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President Muhammadu Buhari has on Tuesday, February 4, officially presented Nigeria's visa policy for the year 2020 to the public. The president's aide on new media, Bashir Ahmad, said the official presentation was done at the State House in Abuja.

According to President Buhari, the core purpose of reviewing the visa policy is to attract to Nigeria, innovation, specialised skills and knowledge from abroad to complement local ones, Channels tv reports.  It was gathered that the reviewed visa policy has 79 visa classifications, including visa on arrival for holders of passports of African Union countries. The move is reportedly to enhance business opportunities, tourism and achieve African integration. Presidential aide Tolu Ogunlesi also explained that until the new visa policy, Nigeria had only one class of visa, Business, for students, journalists, academic exchange, artists, musicians, entertainers, etc. Ogunlesi noted that the new policy now comes with specific visa classes for all of the categories, adding that the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has promised more efficient processing. "If you’re a Nigerian by birth but have had to give up your citizenship because your new country doesn’t allow dual citizenship (China, Isreal, India etc), you are now eligible to get a multi-year, multiple entry visa that allows you to visit Nigeria easily," the presidential aide noted. There is no room to entertain any fears at all. Our security is guaranteed and our territorial integrity is not compromised,” Ogunlesi quoted the minister of interior, Rauf Aregbesola, as saying.