The Nigeria Immigration Service has
increased visa issuing centers and counters from one to two at the
Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos...
A source, who craved anonymity, said the
immigration authorities in Abuja ordered the Lagos airport command to
increase the counters to two in order to facilitate foreigners’ movement
into the country and end the usual long queues for immigration
processes.
It was gathered that visas were now
being issued to foreigners on arrival at both the E and D wings of the
airport instead of only the D wing, while no fewer than 20,000 visas had
been issued at the airport since the policy came on stream in June this
year.
“The issuance of visas on arrival has
reduced the number of foreigners going to the home offices of Nigeria
abroad, as many of them now prefer to get their visas on arrival at the
command,” the source stated.
He added that as part of the monitoring
scheme, the Lagos command had also tagged the counters of all its
personnel at the airport for proper identification.
According to the source, the Comptroller
General of Immigration, Mr. Muhammad Babandede, has ordered all the
officers to tag their counters in order to check corruption in the
system and also key into the ease of doing business policy of the
Federal Government.
Meanwhile, the Federal Airports
Authority of Nigeria and Seymour Aviation Limited, on Wednesday, opened a
multi-level car park at the MMIA, Lagos.
The 1,300-capacity facility, funded by Fidelity Bank Plc, is expected to check indiscriminate parking in and around the airport.
FAAN’s Director of Engineering Services,
Mr. Salisu Daura, said the six-level car park was constructed by the
agency and Seymour as a public-private-partnership for 30 years.
Daura said that pick up and drop off of passengers would be moved to the new facility.
“FAAN has put in place measures to
maintain the facility. Everyone, including passengers, must cooperate
with us to make things work,” he said.
The Managing Director, Seymour Aviation
Limited, Mr. Francis Ikenga, stated that the facility was built to
international standards with waiting lounge, bomb detectors, public
address system and conveniences on all the six floors.
He noted, “It was conceived for the corporate objective to transform Nigeria’s airport to world-class standards.”
“This will contribute to making Nigeria the aviation hub, not just for West Africa, but for sub-Sahara Africa.”
The Deputy Managing Director, Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr. Muhammed Balarabe, said the lender was proud to have funded the project.
He said that Fidelity Bank would support Seymour in similar projects in other airports across the country.
“This facility will be viable and also touch the lives of airport users,” Balarabe added.
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