The Federal Government has directed the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to immediately end the payment of fines by Nigerians holding dual citizenship at the nation’s international airports.
The Minister of Interior, Lt Gen. (Rtd) Abdulrahman Dambazau, made the announcement on Thursday in Abuja.
He said that the directives are in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s resolve to make movement easy for Nigerians with dual citizenship to come into their father-land unhindered.
According to him, “As a new government policy, on no account should any Nigerian traveller holding dual citizenship pay fine for so-called overstay”.
He said that it was a crime to ask or pay any money in that regard and stressed that under the new policy, “Citizens with dual nationality should only present both travelling documents of their countries of nationality to the immigration officials upon arrival and departure, regardless of whichever they are using to travel”.
Dambazau emphasized that the NIS should ensure immediate compliance with the new government directives as the government would sanction any Immigration official who is found collecting such fines henceforth.
He asked that Nigerians with dual citizenship should report any Immigration official who imposes such charges on them to the appropriate authorities.
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