Diasporans Returning Home with Nigerian Passports Don’t Require Visa, Investigation Reveals

Olaseni Durojaiye

Nigerians resident abroad intending to travel to Nigeria do not require entry visa into the country nor are they expected to pay any visa processing fee, THISDAY check has found out.

It has also emerged that the category of Nigerians who are subjected to visa requirements and processing fees for same are those who carry dual citizenship and planned to travel to Nigeria with foreign passport other than their Nigerian passport; in line with practice among other countries, checks further revealed.

It has emerged that the controversy surrounding the issue border on the fact that a significant number of Nigerians in the Diaspora hold dual citizenship as they are citizens of the countries where they reside while they also retain their Nigerian citizenship.

Nigerians, who hold dual citizenship and wish to travel to Nigeria with passports of foreign countries are expected to obtain a valid Nigerian visa, pay a visa processing fee as well as submit data enrollment, as is the case for all foreign visa applicants, as Nigerians who wish to travel abroad also go through biometric visa enrollment.

THISDAY investigation revealed gathered that Nigerians resident abroad wishing to travel home can obtain or renew a Nigerian passport at the same relative price paid by Nigerians in Nigeria.

“However, if the Nigerians resident abroad chooses to use their foreign passport to travel to Nigeria, they must then obtain a visa just like every other holder of a foreign passport wishing to travel to Nigeria. This is not unique to Nigeria. This is the same rule that applies with every country that allows its citizens to have dual citizenship,” stated Chief Operating Officer of LarryKay Travels and Tours, Lance Kehinde.

Continuing, Kehinde, whose company has offices in Nigeria and the United States and consults for individuals and organisations, including the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), explained that “It is imperative to highlight the need for the introduction of biometric processes in the visa issuance process as a means of addressing contemporary migration issues and challenges.

“Foremost in this regard is the issue of security within the context of international terrorism as well as internal insurgency problems. By putting in place a biometric visa regime, governments of issuing countries are able to collect vital biometric information on persons who may pose serious security threats if allowed into their countries, and also take adequate preemptive measures to forestall this.

“The Nigeria biometric visa issuance is one of the bold steps taken by the leadership of the Federal Ministry of Interior and the Nigeria Immigration Service in order to put in place a world class modern migration management system. In other parts of the world where the biometric visa system has been put in place, the whole process had been solely financed by the host Governments of such countries. The following links and documents provide more insight into this issue,” he stated.

According to information sourced from htpss://fcw.com/articles/2012/ 14 dhs-us-visit-biometric- program-to-be-moved-again.aspx the US-VISIT programme of the Department of Homeland security, the programme that manages fingerprints and photographs of most visitors to the US, has spent $300 million a year since 2004 which amounts to $4.5 billion as at 2017.

Similarly, the Australian government has singlehandedly bankrolled the migration to biometric visa issuance system in that country, according to information gathered from http://www.znet.com/article/ budget-2017-border protection given-au60-for-biometrics/

The United Kingdom Government is also known to have invested hundreds of millions of pounds sterling to build and deploy its biometric visa issuance system.

Sources at the Ministry of Interior and Nigerian Immigration Service, however, stated that paucity of funds constrained the Federal Government to adopt a 100 per cent private vendor-financed platform whereby the service provider is responsible for the sourcing of funds for the building of the system architecture, installation and administration of the biometric visa system. Expectedly, the project has gulped hundreds of millions of United States dollars, thus far.

The Interior Ministry source further stated that “However, in order to assist the service provider to recoup its investments, the Government approved a service charge of 60 British Pounds, which amounts to about $90. It is worthy to note here that 40 per cent of the 60 British Pounds is ploughed back to Government under the PPP arrangement.”

Continuing, the ministry source further disclosed that, “So far, the company approved by the Federal Government to handle the biometric visa project, Online Integrated Solutions Limited (OIS) has been able to establish the following: The building of a world-class data centre at the Nigeria Immigration Service Headquarters, Abuja. All biometric data from the enrollment centres are processed and stored at this Data Centre located at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja. This centre also houses the Central Matching System and the Africa Regional Server.” Kehinde and the Interior Ministry source corroborated same.

It was further gathered that the biometric visa platform also boosts the country’s internal security requirements as it provides access to all relevant Nigerian security agencies for the proper screening and adjudication of potential travelers to Nigeria.

This is besides training Immigration Officers in the operations of the biometric visa system; deployment of biometric visa issuance systems in the United Kingdom, USA, China, UAE, India and South Africa during the pilot phase, and this would be gradually extended to cover other countries; and deployment of biometric visa verification systems at Nigeria’s international airports.

In an interview with THISDAY, a security expert and retired officer of the Nigerian Air Force, Alex Omini, stated that “biometric data bank would assist the Nigeria Immigration Service and other security agencies to address the challenges to National security posed by terrorism and cross border crimes through intelligence sharing.

“I think the Federal Government deserves commendation, in the face of dwindling resources that it is utilising the Public Private Partnership platform to undertake essential services that would not only enhance national security but also add value to the economy in the area of ease of doing business and attracting Direct Foreign Investment,” he stated.

Meanwhile, against media reports that fees charged under the newly introduced visa regime goes to the service provider, OIS, sources in the know disclosed that the $180 fee goes directly to the Federal Government.

However, the source added that “OIS only $90 approved for it by government and has nothing whatsoever to do with Nigerian passport applications and cannot therefore be accused of charging $12 “for passport”.

While addressing the issue of biometric visas being issued only at six centres in the US, a source in the Nigerian Immigration Service told this newspaper that “Government is taking a phased approach towards roll out of the programme across the world. Plans are underway to expand and extend OIS services to other cities in the USA and across the world.”

The source added that “Whilst the government is doing its best to facilitate more locations, it is also important that we take learning from other countries such as United Kingdom, China, India, United Arab Emirates that have outsourced their Visa application process in our country to limited locations that has become a strategic cost saving measures as well as traffic flow management to the embassies of the countries while providing strategic support to the need of the travelers.”