United Arab Emirates (UAE) has inaugurated a visa application and document attestation centre at the office of the UAE Consulate General in Lagos.

A statement by the office of the UAE Consulate, said the event, held on Tuesday was led by its Consul General, Dr Abdulla Al Mandoos.

Dignitaries at the event included the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Government on Sustainable Development Goals and Investment, Solape Hammond; Comptroller General of Immigration for Lagos State, Ahmed Aliyu; Country Manager of Emirates Airlines, Paulos Legesse; Vice President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Gbenga Ismail; Head of UAE Visa Centre, Abdulla Alqahtani and several media houses.

Leading the dignitaries on a tour of the centre, Mandoos reaffirmed that the UAE had worked towards fostering its bilateral relations with Nigeria.

He said, “The vision to establish a Visa and Attestation office in the Centre of Excellence has been in the works for a while now. Lagos being the economic capital of Nigeria with over 20 million in population, the centre aims to put to ease the bilateral business processes between both countries.

“The best equipment has been installed to ensure the process remains fast and convenient with a target of six minutes to complete the entire process from the walk-in.”

“With this new development, we anticipate that the people of Lagos and neighbouring states no longer feel compelled to travel to Abuja to process visas and attest their documents as they can now achieve all that in Lagos State.”