The Federal Government has commenced the execution of the principle of reciprocity in international relations, especially concerning its Visa on Arrival policy.
A committee headed by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Interior, Oluwatoyin Akinlade, has been set up to come up with a report on how to implement the strategy.
The Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this on Wednesday, during the inauguration of the committee in Abuja.
Tunji-Ojo said Nigeria cannot be offering visas on a silver platter to nationals of some countries who are coming to the country to make money, and yet such countries would not reciprocate the gesture to Nigerians who go to such countries to spend their money.
He said, “We have set up a committee chaired by the Permanent Secretary to review our passport and Visa policy. The Director Joint Services is the secretary and NIS CG is a member among others.
“Nigeria is not a thrash and we cannot be treated as such. Visa is based on reciprocity anywhere in the world and that is why we are seriously looking at this visa visa-on-arrival. There is no point allowing someone to enjoy that when he gets to Nigeria and we don’t enjoy that when we go there. ”
He said the committee has two weeks to submit its report.
“Once we enforce this principle of reciprocity, people will call us to talk too because most of these people who come to Nigeria come to make money and yet we go to their own countries to spend money. Yet, they make it difficult for Nigerians. We are working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on this,” he added.
The minister also added that as part of the passport reforms, he has engaged service providers of the ministry to establish more passport front offices according to earlier contractual agreements.
He said, “Somebody cannot live in Akoko and he needs to travel to Akure just for the sake of biometrics. The cost of travelling, the risk to life, and the inconveniences. These are the issues we are trying to tackle.
“So, the passport front offices and our foreign missions, people travel from an extreme part of Canada with their young children and the elderly and they need to fly or travel by road to our mission to get passports.
“So, from next year, we will activate the passport front offices. We are giving our service providers a standing instruction. That you have a contract, does not mean you will hold Nigerians down. So, we are giving them three months to activate their contracts after which, if they do not deliver to Nigerians, we will revoke the contracts.
“They should put their houses in order and give Nigerians a sweet experience. We are friends to the extent to which you defend the interest of the nation. We have told them that.”
Punch
