…FG vows to blacklist foreigners who threaten national security
By Omeiza Ajayi
ABUJA: The Federal Government has expressed serious outrage over an incident where a Chinese expatriate ordered a Nigerian security official guarding him to shoot a personnel of the Nigeria Immigration Service NIS who was on legitimate assignment at the premises of the Chinese-owned company.
Accordingly, the government said it is automating its immigration lists of White, Grey and Black, warning that any foreigner who poses a threat to national security would be swiftly blacklisted.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja at a Stakeholders’ Sensitization Workshop on the Implementation of the Nigeria Visa Policy 2025.
According to the minister, Nigeria seeks reciprocity in the treatment of its citizens in other countries, noting that there is no reason to disrespect any Nigerian who obeys the laws of the host country.
He said; “One issue I must mention is, some of our companies that refuse, intimidate the Immigration Service from doing its responsibility of supervision. That will no longer happen.
“I will not go to any country, open a company and say Immigration Service cannot come in. No, I won’t do that. An incident happened and I am taking that very personally. I don’t want to mention the company here, that shot one of our immigration personnel. The owner, the people of the company, foreign company, told the security officer to shoot our officer and he did it. That happened like a couple of weeks ago. I think it is unjust, right? And we are going to take it up with the Chinese Embassy. That is a Chinese company. I won’t go to China and as a Nigerian open a company and tell my security to shoot a government official in uniform. It is never done anywhere in the world. That alone is an attack on Nigeria. It will never happen. It will never happen.
“These officers put their lives on the line. These officers serve this country with their all and you will not come from anywhere and ask them to shoot them in their fatherland. It will no longer happen. We will take it up with you. It will no longer happen. I can’t imagine it. For a father to leave the children, go in defence of Nigeria, to do his legitimate responsibility, go to a company to say, I need to see your expatriates. Let us see your list. Just to ask questions, and the next thing you say, they should lock the gate. Because I am here to do the job. This is it. And the next thing you say, if you don’t do it, I’ll say they should shoot you, and the next thing was that the Nigerian officer was shot. That is a diplomatic issue. We will handle it.
“It will not happen again. So we are going to be very hard. We will not stop your business. We will not overburden your business. But don’t make us inferior in our own land. No, please.
“And we are going to be very tough on this. Because talking to you, I’m not just talking with passion. On this topic, I am talking with a lot of anger, because that guy that was shot is a Nigerian, who we all swore to protect by virtue of the laws of Nigeria, by the Constitution. That guy that was shot, not by a terrorist, is a father. That guy shot who was shot, he is a son to somebody. He is a husband to somebody. That cannot happen anywhere in the world. We will not tolerate it. Please, no agent, no company is above the law. We are all under, we are all within the law.
“Please, we are doing our best to make things easier. We are doing our best to collaborate with you, but please, we beg you to not insult us. We will not disrespect you. As long as the President is President, nobody will disrespect you in Nigeria.
“But all we ask for is reciprocity of respect. That is not too much to ask for”, he added.
The minister said a Chinese delegation led by the ambassador had earlier met him to complain that they were being blacklisted, but he said Nigeria was not blacklisting China.
“And I say it openly here. China is a major trade partner to Nigeria. And I always say this.
“We will never, under the leadership of His Excellency, we will never paint an entire street with a single brush. There are Nigerians there. There are Chinese people here doing fantastically well in our economy. There are Indians investing billions of dollars in our economy. There are Americans. There are Europeans, and, of course, just like we have a lot of good Nigerians, we have some who are questionable. Same with every nation.
“So, we are not going to paint an entire street with a single brush. All we have said, and I want to repeat this, because we are going to work very hard in terms of our immigration, is that we will not allow for the abuse of our immigration protocols. We will not accept that. And as a matter of fact, by 1st of May, for expatriates in Nigeria and people working in Nigeria, there will be what we call an expatriate administration system, whereby everybody comes into that platform.
“And at the end of the day, we want to be able to know where you are, what you’re doing, and we want to be accountable for everybody in Nigeria. We will be giving a three-month window. I call it an asylum window from the 1st of May till the 1st of August for regularization of immigration protocols in line with our laws.
“After that, we will move to the era of enforcement, prosecution, and deportation. For anybody who does not. Because we know today a lot of abuses in terms of our immigration policies. But before we act, we want to give you the opportunity to act. Anybody that falls short of that, obviously, has other motives of being in Nigeria. We want you in Nigeria, but to the extent to which you are ready to obey the laws of Nigeria”, he declared.
Earlier, Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Kemi Nana Nandap said as part of the transformation, the Nigerian Visa Policy 2024 underwent a comprehensive review, resulting in a significant reduction in the visa classifications from 79 to 44.
“These categories have been logically grouped to simplify procedures, reduce complexities and greatly improve the user experience. Importantly, we have maintained the original purpose and intent of each visa class throughout this reform. For the first time, with the introduction of e-visa classes, visa applications to Nigeria can now be complete entirely online, from submission to approval, thereby eliminating the need for in-person visits to embassies or consulates.
“Whether you are a tourist, a business traveler, academic or a Nigerian with dual nationality, the process is now simpler, it’s faster and it’s more accessible. This robust e-visa framework includes 13 specific e-visa classes. Before now, the VOA had just two classes, which was just the business visa and the tourist visa.
“But with the e-visa framework, we have 13 specific e-visa classes. These are carefully designed to accommodate a wide range of short-term travel purposes. Applicants can now choose the most appropriate visa based on the nature of their visit”, she stated.
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