The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), has said the Ease-of-Doing-Business policy of the Federal Government has facilitated the influx of foreigners into the country.
Comptroller, Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Command, Dikko Yashe, who made this known at the weekend, said the surge was as a result of the visa-on-arrival programme which is a component of the ease of doing business policy.
He said on the average, the command issues 150 visas on arrival to travellers weekly, stressing that most of the travellers prefer the new policy.
Yashe, however, noted that some of the travellers would enter the country without securing the approval of the Comptroller-General of Immigration for their visa applications as required by law.
He said in the past 10 months, no fewer than 278 foreigners had been sent back from Lagos Airport for lack of entry visas into the country.
Yashe said the airport command had keyed into the policy of the Comptroller General of NIS, Mohammed Babandede, by reducing the contacts of its officers with travellers.
“I know that visa-on-arrival policy has tremendously increased travellers through the Lagos Airport Command. On the average, we issue about 150 visas on arrival or more, it depends on the influx of passengers.
“We observe that most of our passengers prefer to get their visas on arrival, but the challenge we have is that some of the passengers don’t wait for approval from the CG. That is why we keep on returning people.
“I have returned over 278 people without visas in the past 10 months,” Yashe said.