Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Ojo, says the various reforms being introduced by the ministry and Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), especially in expatriate quota and new visa, will go live on May 1.
Tunji-Ojo disclosed this at the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) forum in Lagos on Friday.
He said that the issue of quota approval would be stricter, adding that it would not be business as usual again.
The minister said that quota presentations to the ministry for approval must be reasonable.
Although he said that there were job creations, he, however, pointed out that a large chunk of the jobs were not going to Nigerians.
Tunji-Ojo specifically said that jobs like waitresses, drivers and those meant for secondary school certificate holders should not be on the quota list again.
According to him, Nigerians have more qualified persons who could fill the positions of waitresses and drivers.
He said that the essence of the quota was that if there were no Nigerians with the capacity to do the job, then somebody could be brought in, with Nigerians under studying the person so that there would be knowledge transfer.
The minister also assured that the fees for obtaining a Combined Expatriate Residence Permit and Alien Card (CERPAC) would not be increased.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that CERPAC is the document issued by the NIS that allows foreign nationals to legally reside and work in Nigeria.
Tunji-Ojo further stated that CERPAC would be integrated with Interpol to allow for the easy identification of criminals.
“We are introducing e-CERPAC; a virtual copy will be sent to your email and there will be machine readable cards that cannot be faked,” he said.
The minister listed other reforms to include, Temporary Expatriate Resident Permit (TERP), Insurance, landing and exit card and e-visa solution.
He stressed the need for Nigeria to clean its immigration system and build a system that everyone would be proud of.
Consequently, he directed that an expatriate support desk be set up at immigration offices across the country.
Earlier, the director-general of NECA, Mr. Adewale-Smart Oyerinde, said that while many Nigerians desired traveling outside the country, expatriates troops in.
Oyerinde said that NIS and the ministry aimed to make the process easier through the various reforms.
He said that a stakeholders’ engagement had been held about a month ago, the outcome of which was to have a 10-man committee to review certain elements of the immigration process and expatriate certification.
