The Federal Government has declared that all visa applications processes will be carried out online by March 1. Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this on Monday, January 20, during an engaging session hosted on ‘X Spaces’ by influencer Dr. Segun Awosanya.
Emphasizing improvements in the visa approval system, the minister remarked on the creation of a centralized visa approval center designed to bolster national security, ensure consistency, and mitigate corruption.
“The visa approval center is also a milestone for this administration since we now possess a centralized visa approval hub,” he stated. “This will curtail corruption, guarantee national security, and unify the visa regulations to establish consistency. Prior to March 1, all visa application processes will transition online to facilitate thorough vetting.”
Dr. Tunji-Ojo also elaborated on the inception of a harmonized data center located at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Technology Innovation Complex (BATTIC), situated at the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) headquarters in Sauka, Abuja.
“We successfully constructed one of the most extensive data centers in Nigeria’s history, which is the 8.3-petabyte facility,” he mentioned. “Previously, we faced a challenge because we took over a Nigeria Immigration Service that lacked a data center, wherein Nigerians’ data was evidently stored privately by various contractors, constituting a significant breach of the Data Protection Act.”
The minister underscored the importance of streamlining Nigeria’s security document issuance process to ensure compliance with due process and data protection regulations.
“Nigeria cannot proliferate the issuance of its security documents because it constitutes a serious violation of due process,” he clarified. “We resolved to find an enduring solution to this issue, and we initially promised Nigerians a 1.4-petabyte data center, but we ultimately delivered an 8.3-petabyte data center—one of the largest