…Okays deployment of 90,000KM of fiber optic cable across Nigeria for Communications

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

THE Federal Executive Council FEC, on Tuesday approved the establishment of a committee tasked with streamlining visa processes and acquisition.

Minister of Information and National Orientation, Muhammad Idris, who disclosed this while briefing journalists at the State House, Abuja, explained that the approval is aimed at easing processes for foreign investors.

The Minister lamented that the visa processes has become cumbersome and apparently hindering the ease of doing business in Nigeria.

According to him, the Minister of Interior, the Minister of Finance and other stakeholders will be meeting to discuss the way forward, adding that the visa processes should be ready in 48 hours when the process is concluded.

He said, “The visa process is becoming cumbersome which is not encouraging investors and the ease of doing business in Nigeria.

“FEC has set up a committee to look at the present state of visa process with the aim to reducing the cumbersome nature of the process. Meaning that and the investors and tourists coming into the country will find it a lot easier to come into the country provided they follow laid down processes.

“This includes the eVisa platforms that is already been discussed. There is also the idea of every visa application being processed within 48 hours. This is still work in progress.

“The Minister of Interior is working with the Minister of finance and other stakeholders to ensure that the visa process is done quickly and done with as soon as possible”, he said.

He noted that going forward “investors, tourists would find it easy to acquire a visa within 48 hours”, Idris said.

Also briefing correspondents on his ministry’s outing at the Council meeting, Minister of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, disclosed that FEC approved two critical projects for the digital economy and technology startup ecosystem.

According to him, the first project has to do with the setting up of a special purpose vehicle, a public-private partnership, to deploy 90,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable across Nigeria, explaining that this will increase the country’s total fiber optic cable to 125,000 kilometers, making it the third longest terrestrial fiber optic cable in Africa.

He said the project aims to address the current underutilization of Nigeria’s eight submarine cables, which are only being used to about 10%, adding that the deployment of additional fiber optic cables is expected to improve internet quality and reduce prices by about 60%.

This investment is projected to contribute to a 1.5% growth in Nigeria’s GDP over the next four years.

The project, according to Tijani, also aims to plug the non-consumption gap in connectivity by connecting over 200,000 educational institutes, government offices, and critical infrastructures like hospitals that are currently not connected, saying this will have a significant impact on the digital economy and technology startups in Nigeria.

He disclosed that the second project involves converting the Nigerian property in San Francisco, USA, into a Nigerian startup house, which he said would provide a hub for Nigerian technology startups to access funding and investors in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley, which are recognized globally as major sources of startup ecosystem funding.

Last year, investors in the area invested $1.3 billion into technology startups in Nigeria, and the goal is to increase and improve foreign direct investment (FDI) to technology startups from the region.