The
Interior Minister, Abdulrahman Dambazau, has warned that Nigeria would no
longer tolerate delay in issuance of visa to its nationals from any country.
The
minister stated this on Monday in Abuja at a meeting with the Foreign Affairs
Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, to resolve some of the issues militating against
visa issuance.
The
meeting also had in attendance, the Attorney General of the Federation and
Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, and the Comptroller-General of
Immigration, Mohammed Babandede.
Mr.
Dambazau said that the delay in the issue of visa to Nigerians was becoming an
embarrassment and must be resolved.
“It
is embarrassing that one will want visa and will have unnecessary delay from
the issuance countries.
“We
as a country needs to take our stand; we should deal with any country the way
they deal with us on visa issuance.
“They
should not think that we need them more than they need us,” he said.
Mr.
Babandede, at the end of the meeting also corroborated Minister of Interior’s
stand on the issue.
He
said: “What we are saying is that we as a country, we would also like to
retaliate.
“Anybody
who delays visa for our nationals, we would also do the same as a country
because we have a pride as a nation.”
The
Comptroller-General, however, said that Nigeria was committed to ensuring that
business was done normally with friends of the country.
“We
are committed to issue visa on time and passport to our nationals wherever they
are”.
Earlier,
Mr. Onyeama said that the meeting was to enhance ease of doing business in the
country.
He,
however, noted that the nation was still having challenges regarding consular
services.
Mr.
Onyeama said the parley was to see how in conjunction with sister ministries,
the nation could find solutions to the challenges.
“As
part of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council, the issue, as
you know, some of the deliverables are there and it is for consular services
that we also have to work hard together.
“So,
we have always felt that we should all try and be speaking to each other.
“The
Ministry of Interior, Immigration Services and ourselves, our embassies and
missions and consulates are all working other one roof,” he said.
-NAN
No comments:
Post a Comment