The Nigerian
Senate has blatantly opposed President Muhammadu Buhari’s policy on
vis-on-arrival.
Buhari had
announced that with effect from January 2020, fellow African countries will be
allowed into Nigeria without a visa.
The senators
believe that considering the spate of insecurity going-on in the country, the
action is premature and should be given sometime.
Based on
this, they are rejecting the visa-on-arrival policy.
The
president had made this announcement on Wednesday 11 2019 at the Aswan Forum in
Egypt that with effect from January 2020, other African countries will be
allowed to come into Nigeria without a visa
The Nigerian
president said that Nigeria will begin to issue visas at the entry point. The
red chamber, however, opposed to the idea and proceeded to invite the minister
of interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola alongside Controller General of Nigeria
Immigration to appear before its committee on interior, judiciary and legal
matters.
Senator
Adewunmi Adetunbi of the APC argued that the plan is constitutionally premature
and legally impossible for the provisions of the said agreement to have any
effect within Nigeria’s territory.
Supporting
the motion, Eyinnaya Abaribe, Senate Minority leader affirms that several
Nigerians were worried about the policy because of the insecurity in the
country.
On the
contrary, Senator Jibrin opposed the views of other senators who rejected the
policy, saying the policy announced by the president is a global trend and
should not be faulted.