The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) will launch a new visa regime before the end of the year, Comptroller General of Immigration, Muhammad Babandede has disclosed.

Babandede disclosed this while speaking at the 2019 NIS Award night/End of the year dinner at the service headquarters on Saturday.

The CGI said the new visa regime will be tailored towards Nigeria’s peculiar security realities and economic growth.

He said: “You will get the details before the end of the year, I can assure you. But what I’m saying is that we have been operating with visas that did not target our economic growth, that does not look at our security situation, that is not very transparent.

Babandede assured that the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, under the directives of President Muhammadu Buhari, will launch the new visa system before the end of the year.

“I assure you, it will be transparent, it will be an e-visa, it will remove cash payment and ensure no security is compromised. It’s a balance between facilitation and transparency and protection of national security,” he stressed.

Speaking about the award ceremony, Babandede noted that governance is a carrot and stick situation, adding that “we have dismissed many officers in 2019 for corruption and for absenteeism. We have reduced ranks of many officers, some of them are still under investigations for taking money from applicants and ordinary Nigerians who want to get service which suppose to be free.

“If we do that throughout the year, we should dedicate a day to commend those who have done well so that it can serve as an example to others to follow.” (Daily Trust)