The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the establishment of a tripartite committee tasked with streamlining visa processes and acquisition. Minister of Information and National Orientation, Muhammad Idris, who disclosed this on Tuesday, May 14, while briefing journalists at the State House, Abuja, explained that the approval is aimed at easing processes for foreign investors......See Full Story>>.....See Full Story>>
“Our visa processes are becoming cumbersome. The ease of doing business is also tied to our visa processes.
“Going forward, those investors, tourists would find it easy to acquire a visa within the next 48 hours,” Idris said.
The meeting which began on Monday was adjourned till Tuesday to allow for other “far-reaching” decisions, the information minister had told journalists.
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima will now henceforth pay the required fees at tollgates whenever they use the nation’s airports.
This came as the the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting he presided over at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Tuesday approved that there should be no more exemption granted to users of the airports from paying tollgate fees.
The approval was made following a memorandum presented to the council by the minister of aviation, Festus Keyamo, who argued that the government was losing over 82% of the revenue it should have earned from the e-tags that provide access to the tollgates.
He explained that the memoranda had initially prescribed an exemption for only the president and the vice president before Tinubu overruled and directed that both of them should be included among those that must pay.
Keyamo, who disclosed this at the post-FEC media briefing, regretted that Very Important Persons (VIPs) with money who should pay are those that have not been paying, noting that only poor people had been charged for using the tollgates.
He said this must now stop.