Why Visa applications ‘ll go online before March 1 – Interior minister

The federal government has said all visa applications will be made online latest by March 1.

Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo disclosed this Monday when he was hosted on ‘X Spaces’ by an influencer, Dr Segun Awosanya.

Tunji-Ojo said there is also now a centralized visa approval centre which has merged the visa regime to ensure uniformity, enhance national security and reduce corruption.

“The visa approval centre is also an achievement for this administration because we also now have a centralized visa approval centre.

“This will stem corruption, ensure national security, and merge the visa regime to ensure uniformity. Before March 1st, all visa application systems will be online to ensure proper vetting”, he stated.

The minister reiterated the existence of a harmonized data centre at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Technology Innovation Complex BATTIC domiciled at the headquarters of the Nigeria Immigration Service NIS in Sauka, Abuja.

He said: “We were able to build one of the biggest data centres in the history of Nigeria, which is the 8.3 petabyte centre. Before then, we had an issue, because we inherited a Nigeria Immigration Service that had no data centre, where the data of Nigerians were obviously being saved in private capacities with various contractors, and that was a gross contravention of the Data Protection Act.

“Nigeria cannot proliferate the issuance of its security document because it is a gross violation of due process and so, we decided to find a lasting solution to that, and we started by promising Nigerians a 1.4-petabyte data centre, but we ended up delivering an 8.3-petabyte data centre – one of the largest in the world”.