The Federal Government has announced a decrease in the fees payable by citizens of the United States of America for Nigerian visas.
The announcement, contained in a statement on Wednesday by the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, comes a day after the United States hiked the visa fees payable by Nigerians.
A statement by the Embassy of the United States in Nigeria said this followed over 18 months of stalling by Nigeria in reciprocating the regime of visa fees charged Nigerians by the country.
However, Aregbesola in the statement signed on his behalf by the Director of Press and Public Relations of the Ministry, Mohammed Manga, said the delay in reciprocating the gesture by the United States was caused by the transition in the Ministry.
The statement reads: “The attention of the Ministry of Interior has been drawn to the introduction of reciprocity of Visa Fees by the United States of America. The Ministry acknowledges that there were engagements with the United States Embassy on the issue and in the aftermath, a Committee was set up to conduct due diligence in line with the Ministry’s extant policy on reciprocity of Visa fees. The Committee had concluded its assignment and submitted a Report but the issuance of authorisation for its recommendations was delayed due to transition processes in the Ministry at the policy level.
“The Honourable Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has approved the decrease of Visa charges payable by US citizens in line with reciprocity policy as recommended by the Committee.
“Accordingly, the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Muhammad Babandede, has been directed to implement the decrease in Nigeria’s Visa charges to US Citizens with effect from Thursday, 29th August, 2019.”
