Immigration engages airlines on int’l flights

Ahead of the reopening of airports for international flights on Saturday, the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Command of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), yesterday asked airlines to administer passenger information cards to passengers before the arrival of flights.

This, the immigration believes, would reduce delays on arrival at the airport and minimize the number of passengers undergoing screening on arrival.

The Comptroller NIS MMIA, Abdullahi Usman, stated this while hosting members of the Association of Foreign Airlines and Representatives in Nigeria (AFARN).

He said the airlines should ensure all passengers fill the cards onboard. "With COVID-19, there will be minimal delay in clearance, minimal because right from port health, there are some routines that need to be done.

Usman urged airlines to ensure proper profiling of passengers before boarding for the purpose of airport facilitation.

"Airlines, it is their responsibility to make sure that no passenger embarks on a journey without the requirements of embarkation, your profiling, your screening is done in the diaspora, you and I here in the country, talk to your colleagues you do effective profiling of passengers that have the right visas to come in."

The MMIA Comptroller NIS, said an online Temporary Work Permit (TWP) visa, Pre-approval had been introduced because of the closure of the foreign missions as a result of the pandemic.