The new Assistant Comptroller General(ACG),Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) in charge of Zone A, Oluremi Talabi has appealed to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria(FAAN) to strengthen the Visa on Arrival (VoA) section of the Service at the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport(MMA), Lagos.
Talabi made the appeal when she visited the Regional Manager, South West, FAAN, Mrs Victoria Shin -Aba in her office at the terminal as part of her familiarisation visit to the MMA, Lagos Command of NIS under her zone .
The ACG told the Regional Manager that the Comptroller of the Command has told her the immense support he has been receiving from the Regional Manager .
She commended the Regional Manager for her support to the Command and that the existing cordial relationship would further improve the relationship.
“I appreciate the Regional Manager, your esteemed ooffice. I also appreciate you for giving us an audience within 24 hours of informing you of our visit you received us. This further gives credence to what my comptroller has told me about the cordial relationship between the two organisations.
The ACG said that everything is going on seamlessly but that the Service can only be comfortable as long as FAAN wants it to be.
Talabi told Shin-Aba that despite the seamless operations that the Service has been having at the airport, the NIS needs a space in the yet to be commissioned terminal for the Visa on Arrival section not only to strengthen it but also to make it more comfortable for foreign investors coming to invest in Nigeria.
She added that apart from the Ease of Doing Business, which strengthens the economy of Nigeria, the VoA section must be made easier for use by VoA passengers coming to invest in our country.
ACG Talabi also requested for a conducive and secluded space for the Holding Centre, where passengers with issues are given minimum comfort while they are being interrogated.
Responding to the requests made by the ACG, the Regional Manager, who had earlier excused herself from a meeting she was holding, to attend to the ACG and his team, said that there will not be any issue as it concerns space for Visa on Arrival.
According to Shin -Aba , ” We have a very good relationship with all the Comptrollers that have been here . We have been working together like a team.
Shin-Aba added that to address the issue, what was done at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport(NAA) would be replicated in Lagos to accommodate NIS requests.
She, however, told the visiting ACG that allocation has not been done .
On Holding Centre, the Regional Manager said that for now there is constraint in the terminal, adding it is either the available space is partition or the Service wait for the new terminal to start to get a conducive place for NIS as Holding Centre.
Earlier, the ACG held a meeting with the Command at the Comptroller’s office after which he inspected some units under Lagos Airport Command.
They include: General duties, E Departure, ICT Unit and D Departure.
The ACG was guided on the visit by the Comptroller, Lagos Airport Command, Abdullahi Dalhatu, officers and men under his command.
