By : Ogine Victor
In a bid to boost its country’s tourism, address current immigration-related challenges, and expands opportunities regarding bilateral and multilateral relations with other countries, the Tanzanian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr. Benson Bana, has revealed that the Tanzanian government is currently understudying Nigeria’s Visa Policy (NVP) with the aim adopting the model.
Dr. Bana made this known on the sidelines of the Tanzania-Nigeria Tourism, Investment, and Trade (TN-TIT) forum, on Tuesday in Abuja.
The envoy said that the Tanzanian government has set up a team to study Nigeria’s visa policy, with a view to revising it in that country; even as he hopes they establish a Tanzania route to Lagos.
According to him: “When I arrived here, I was told that Nigeria is listed among countries allowed to approve Visa. “The good thing is we were allowed to have a Nigerian revised Visa policy, we looked at it that it was proactive, at least for addressing the imperatives of problems of Nigeria.
“For providing open doors for travelers wanting to come into Nigeria, right from spiritual and medical tourism, I think they have moved from the sixth category to around seventh.
“So what we did was to study the Nigerian Visa policy with our government and that is why we are here. “Things which are good in Nigeria are transferred to us, so we convinced our government to start what Nigerians have done, in terms of revising the Visa policy and see what works for us,”- he posited.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Feb. 4, 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari, officially launched the NVP 2020 as the new guidelines for entry and exit of migrants.
The NVP 2020 is geared towards the attainment of the Federal Government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) and adoption of Security, Economy, and Transparency (SET) as the government’s policy thrust on ERGP.
