… Approves deployment of 90,000KM of fiber optic cable across Nigeria
By Egena Sunday Ode
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the establishment of a committee tasked with streamlining visa processes and acquisition.
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Muhammad Idris, who disclosed this on Tuesday while briefing newsmen at the State House, Abuja, explained that the approval is aimed at easing processes for foreign investors.
The Minister lamented that the visa processes has become cumbersome and apparently hindering the ease of doing business in Nigeria.
According to him, the Minister of Interior, the Minister of Finance and other stakeholders will be meeting to discuss the way forward, adding that the visa processes should be ready in 48 hours when the process is concluded.
“The visa process is becoming cumbersome which is not encouraging investors and the ease of doing business in Nigeria
“FEC has set up a committee to look at the present state of visa process with the aim to reducing the cumbersome nature of the process. Meaning that and the investors and tourists coming into the country will find it a lot easier to come into the country provided they follow laid down processes.
“This includes the eVisa platforms that is already been discussed. There is also the idea of every visa application being processed within 48hours. This is still work in progress. The Minister of Interior is working with the Minister of finance and other stakeholders to ensure that the visa process is done quickly and done with as soon as possible”, he said.
He noted that going forward “investors, tourists would find it easy to acquire a visa within 48 hours”, Idris said.
Also briefing correspondents on his ministry’s outing at the Council meeting, Minister of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, disclosed that FEC approved two critical projects for the digital economy and technology startup ecosystem.
According to him, the first project has to do with the setting up of a special purpose vehicle, a public-private partnership, to deploy 90,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable across Nigeria, explaining that this will increase the country’s total fiber optic cable to 125,000 kilometers, making it the third longest terrestrial fiber optic cable in Africa.
