The minister of interior, Mr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo has said that the federal government will adopt the principle of reciprocity in the issuance of visas to foreigners who come into the country.
The minister disclosed this yesterday while delivering a keynote speech entitled ;Ministry of interior’s potential high impact social projects’ at a conference organised by BusinessDay in Lagos.
By the policy, the government would treat foreigners seeking Nigerian visas the way Nigerians are treated by the respective countries.
He said he had already told the director of the Centre for Illegal Migration in Turkey to expect reciprocity in terms of travel policy.
“Any country that does not give me the visa on arrival cannot have a visa on arrival in Nigeria. I’m sorry but it is the truth. We’re not a dumping ground. If you say you are useful, people will see you as being useful.
“But if you tell people you are useless, people will tell you why are you this useless. We want to partner with you…; we must be partners, we must be equal partners and our relationship of investment must be on the basis of the principle of reciprocity.
“So we are doing that to all the countries in the world. The committee is working; you charge me $100 for a visa, I will charge you $100 for a Nigerian visa.
“If you give me a visa on arrival, I will give it to you. If you say the condition for me to enter your country today is that I must have an American visa, Schengen visa, UK visa etc, you will have the same conditions to enter my country. It is not a fight; it is about the issue of mutual respect,” he said.
The minister added: “My job is interior security and not external. So let’s call a spade a spade. We must change our perception. Perception is everything in life. Perception is your reputation, if people have a wrong perception about you, they will have a negative interpretation about who you are.
“So, for us, we’ve been doing that. I told them…you have stopped issuing to Nigerians with Schengen visa, America visas, etc, please tell your people to change it because the issue of visa reciprocity is my own. The way you respond to us is the way we will respond to you, so you know we are all partners in terms of quality.”
“I’m not asking any country to open their gates to all 220 million Nigerians, no! That’s impossible. But at least we have to have a meeting point, based on mutual respect.”
The minister stressed that the credibility of performance of every government has to be based only on the evaluation of how the government handles the weakest in the society.
He said the essence of a government is not just to protect the strong but to make up and amplify the needs of the weak.
“I always said my father didn’t give me the Nigeria of my dream. Yes, but that is not an excuse for me not to give my children the Nigeria of their dreams.
“It means the responsibility of transition from where we are to where we want to be cannot forever be laid at the doorsteps of yesteryears, it has to be laid on our own doorstep,” he said.
