Visitors outside West African countries will have to pay $2,000 if they want to stay in Nigeria beyond 180 days as a penalty fee, the Nigerian immigration has announced.
The newly appointed Comptroller General of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Martins Kure Abeshi gave the hint while meeting with all the heads of commands and formations of the service at their headquarters in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.
According to PM News, the meeting was attended by five Deputy Comptrollers General, 29 Assistant Comptrollers General and 56 Comptrollers.
A statement issued by the service public relations officer, Chukwuemeka Obua, revealed that the new charges is part of a series of reforms that the NIS boss is working on to re-position the service.
Reforms proposed include deepening of internal control/monitoring, border security and patrol as well as engagement with critical stakeholders of the NIS with the purpose of evolving what he described as“Citizen Inclusive Immigration Service”.
He stated that the reform in border security will require a revitalization and reinvigoration of the moribund Air Border Patrol Unit of the NIS.
Abeshi also addressed the issue of extortion, touting and general staff indiscipline, saying it would be curbed because of concrete plans to focus on the welfare of officers of the NIS.
He assured them that the NIS under his watch would address the high rate of human trafficking in Nigeria, even as he directed all heads of formations to put in more efforts to nick the practice in the bud.
He then revealed that the NIS would soon introduce the e-pass project under the Trusted Travellers Scheme (TTS). According to him, when the project takes off, all non ECOWAS visitors to Nigeria who intend to stay in excess of 56 days would be required to register and pay a fee equivalent of $200 while those who over stay their visitors passes in excess of between 90-180 days would pay a penalty of an equivalent of $1000. Those who over stay in excess of 180 days would be required to pay a penalty of equivalent $2000.
Before Abeshi’s appointment, there was an apparent air of fear and paranoia in the NISover the issuance of visa to ISIS leader, Ahmed Al Assir, who was arrested by Lebanese security operatives while he was on his way to Nigeria.
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