The Federal Government has opted for strict visa regulations to prevent people of bad character from entering the country. The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, yesterday told persons of interest planning to enter the country that “Nigeria is not a safe haven”.

According to him, the government will implement Nigeria’s immigration protocol to the letter to enhance national security.

Tunji-Ojo said these at a stakeholders’ sensitisation workshop on the implementation of the Nigeria Visa Policy (MVP) 2025 in Abuja. He said: “Visa on arrival is gone.

“You don’t need to lobby to get a visa to Nigeria; the bottlenecks are gone. “We are going to be very hard in terms of our immigration protocol; Nigeria is open to business.

“We will not allow for the abuse of our immigration protocol; there will be an expatriate administration system.” The minister appealed to expatriates and their interests to respect the country’s immigration laws and citizens. He said: “Nigeria is not a dumping ground for illegal activities.

No company is above the law. Don’t make us inferior in our own land.” Meanwhile, Tunji-Ojo condemned the shooting of an immigration officer allegedly on the orders of a Chinese company in Niger State. He pledged to escalate the matter to the highest diplomatic level, particularly with the Chinese authorities.

The minister said: “I will not go to any country, open a company, and say the immigration service cannot come out. I will not do that.

“I don’t want to mention the company here, but they shot one of our immigration officers. They told their security attaché to shoot our officer, and he did— a foreign company?

“That happened a couple of weeks ago in Niger, and we are going to take it up with the Chinese embassy because it’s a Chinese company.

“I won’t go to China as a Nigerian, enter a company, and tell my security to shoot a government official in uniform. It’s never done anywhere in the world. That alone is an attack on Nigeria.”