INVESTIGATION into the collection of $110 for biometric visa on arrival shows that the charges were not collected by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) which has suspended the collection of said charges about two weeks ago.
Nigerianflightdeck.com also gathered that the collection of charges was done by two other organizations, Online Integrated Service (OIS) and New Works, with the authorization of the Ministry of Interior, which the service falls under.
Reports making rounds was that foreigners coming into Nigeria were being squeezed by a new immigration policy, demanding a compulsory 110 dollar fee ( $90 biometric visa on arrival and additional $20 as processes) at the MMIA which has caught many travellers unawares.
However, our correspondent who visited the MMIA observed that visas were being issued normally but that the biometric visas, which came on stream on June 12, was only implemented for two days, and was later suspended following complaints from some of the travelers who claimed that there were no enough publicity on the new policy.
A source close to the command explained some of the gaps stating that the biometric Visa-On Arrival charges was being handled by Online Integrated Service (OIS) which collected the $90 while the process charges is handled by another company New Works which took $20.
She told nigerianflightdeck.com that the biometric charges were reciprocal as some countries around the world was already charging the citizens of Nigeria who travel into their countries.
Some countries with biometric charges on Nigerian travelers according to investigations are United Kingdom, United States of America, South Africa, Kenya and China among others.
The source said: “Our officers at the Lagos Airport don’t collect any charges from any traveller. The only thing our officers do at the airport so is just to profile passports of travellers and ensure that those without concrete missions do not enter our country.
“It is true that we commenced the collection of biometric charges for travellers, but the policy was suspended within two days because of inadequate publicity. But, we are not reinventing the wheels because this thing is reciprocity. Some of these countries charge our citizens the same amount of money we intend to charge them.â€
The report had said on Monday that the command introduced the $90 biometric visa on arrival and additional $20 as processes for foreigners who were entering the country despite the fact that they had already paid for visas from their respective countries.
The report also claimed that the introduction of the charges caused chaos at the terminal as some of the passengers delayed on arrival at the airport however, that was not the case as normal visas were being issued as regards the Executive Order issued in 2017.
