Tinubu Govt Set To Scrap Visa-On-Arrival Policy – What This Means For Travelers

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration has announced plans to abolish Nigeria’s visa-on-arrival policy.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶

The announcement was made on Friday, February 21, by the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, during the closing ceremony of a weeklong training program designed to enhance the skills of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) personnel.

The training is part of the NIS’s broader effort to ensure proper documentation of all individuals entering the country.

The visa-on-arrival policy, introduced in 2020 under former President Muhammadu Buhari, allowed short-term visitors to obtain visas upon arrival in Nigeria. However, the Tinubu administration now plans to replace it with a new system requiring travelers to complete landing and exit cards before entry.

Stronger Immigration Controls Through Technology

Tunji-Ojo emphasized the need to integrate the immigration data center to streamline migration-related decisions affecting Nigeria. He explained that this system would ensure no approvals are granted without thorough background checks, including real-time clearance from Interpol, criminal record databases, and other security agencies.

“Security is not a sector where you can afford to be 99.9 percent correct—you must be 100 percent,” he stated.

He criticized the visa-on-arrival system, arguing that it was flawed and lacked proper oversight.

“We don’t expect people to just enter our country without prior knowledge of their arrival. That is not how immigration control works anywhere in the world,” Tunji-Ojo said.

Digital Transformation in Immigration Processes

The minister further revealed that the government is introducing a digitized landing and exit card system to replace the current manual process.

“We do it now, but it’s manual. That has to change. This is 2025, not 1825—technology must take its place,” he declared.