NEWS / UK Immigration Chief Tasks Nigeria with Digitizing Vital Records

The Director of United Kingdom Visas and Immigration (UKVI), a British government agency, underscored the importance of digitizing vital records during his visit to Nigeria. The official, Marc Owen, visited Nigeria last week.

During his trip, Owen met with numerous Nigerian officials and stressed that digitizing vital records such as birth certificates, death certificates, and tuberculosis test certificates would make it easier to store, transmit, and verify data internationally. This would foster transparency and efficiency in the migration, particularly with regard to the immigration of Nigerians to the United Kingdom, the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) reports.

In Abuja, Owen met with Asari Allotey, the Director for Legal, Migration, and Consular Affairs at the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He also held talks with representatives from the National Population Commission (NPC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

In Lagos, Owen held discussions with the UK Joint Border Task Force (JBTF) and a number of prominent Nigerian business representatives. He also examined the new UK Visa Application Centre (VAC) in Lagos State capital Ikeja. The management of the VAC is outsourced to VFS Global.

Nigeria ranks 6th as the country of birth for UK immigrants, after India, Poland, Pakistan, Romania, and Ireland, with approximately 294,000 people claiming Nigerian origin according to the 2021/2022 census.