News

As part of the Ministry’s ongoing commitment to enhancing transparency, accountability and operational efficiency in the administration of Expatriate Quota and Citizenship applications, the Honourable Minister has approved a revised approval framework/guideline to address concerns related to potential abuses and irregularities within the system.

2.The revised approval framework/guideline is as follows:

Table A - BUSINESS

Table B - CITIZENSHIP

3. The revised framework supersedes all prior guidelines and takes immediate effect.

4. The concerned are required to ensure seamless implementation and strict compliance with the new guideline.

All Stakeholders are hereby notified that the New Schedule of fees for all Expatriate Quota instruments shall become effective for all applications on 1^st March, 2022.

This is to inform all Public Places of Worship that have applied for Renewal of their License to conduct Statutory marriages that the Permanent Secretary/Principal Registrar of Marriage has approved a Six (6) month stay of action (Moratorium) on the expiration of their license.

All places of worship that had applied for the renewal of their licenses now have a grace a period of  six months to continue with the conduct of marriages pending their inspections. Upon successful completion of their and payment of the appropriate inspection fees, final approval shall be granted.

Consequently, all the applicants for marriage can now access the eCitiBiz portal to choose their places of worship for the celebrations of marriage within a six month period  with effect from 15th of February, 2021.

Thank you for your usual cooperation.

SIGNED: PERMANENT SECRETARY/PRINCIPAL REGISTRAR OF MARRIAGES

MINISTRY OF INTERIOR

The Federal Government has announced a downward review of the fees chargeable for services related to the Conduct of Statutory Marriages under the Marriage Act 2004.

Director, Press and Public Relations in the Ministry of Interior, Mohammed Manga in a statement said the new fees would take effect from Wednesday, 1st July 2020.

According to him, the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola disclosed in a Public Notice signed by the Permanent Secretary and Principal Registrar of Marriages in Nigeria, Georgina Ehuriah.

The statement added that the adjustment was an off-shoot of the recommendations made by stakeholders at the Sensitization Conferences held across the country in the third quarter of 2019.

According to the statement, “the fees chargeable for the Issuance of Fresh Marriage Licence to a place of Public Worship has been reduced from N30,000 for two (2) years to N6,000 yearly, payable for five years in the first instance”.

The ministry added that “for the Renewal of Marriage Licence by a Place of Public Worship, the sum of N5,000 has been approved per year, payable for three (3) years at each instance, as against the N30,000 earlier charged annually”.

The fees chargeable for Statutory Ordinary Marriage has also been cut down from N21,000 to N15,000 while that of Statutory Special Licence has been slashed from N35,000 to N25,000.

Aregbesola said that a link has been created on the Ministry’s website; (www.ecitibiz.interior.gov.ng) to enable States and Local Governments to access the Ministry’s automation platform for services relating to the conduct of Statutory Marriage in the country. He called on stakeholders to take advantage of the reduction in fees to license their Places of Public Worship and continue to celebrate Statutory Marriage as specified by the Law.

Minister of Interior Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau CFR, PhD Lieutenant General (Rtd) has inaugurated a new eCitiBiz Automation Call Center for ease of doing business in the country.

The eCitiBiz Automation Call Center is a project to ensure that Citizenship and Business Department in the Ministry is automated to ease delivery of services. According to him, the project is in line with the ‘’Presidential Order 2017’’ to address the ease of doing business in Nigeria as well as to promote economic development, noting that the Executive Order is geared towards the promotion of transparency and efficiency in the county’s business environment.

Dambazau said further that, the use of the automation call centre would reduce unnecessary contact with people and deliver services in good time. The Minister expressed happiness that the project had been completed, adding that:  ‘’this is one of the moments I have been waiting for since three years. What that means is that with this call centre, there will be no more direct contact with applicants from outside. So I would not want to see anybody coming here to inquire about anything because we have all the necessary platforms for service delivery’’. He emphasised that ‘’it also means that we must keep the period we have identified, if we say application should not take more than a week, we must keep to it so that nobody will even find it necessary to make complaints. We are doing this not only in the interest of Nigerians, but the World. We are also doing this in order to encourage investors. If you are encouraging development, you are encouraging security’’. Dambazau commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the provision of funds for the project.

According to a statement issued in Abuja by the Acting Director, Ministry of Interior, Mohammed Manga, the Minister who made a test call on the facility said that, the Project was the Ministry’s contribution towards the implementation of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s policy directives for the ease of doing business in Nigeria.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Dr. Muhammad Umar congratulated the Minister for the successful completion of the project. He assured that the facility would be properly managed by the staff of the Ministry to ensure quick delivery of services to Nigerians, in line with the Presidential directives for the ease of doing business in the country.

The Director, Citizenship and Business, Hajiya Aisha Rufa’I, expressed gratitude to the Minister for his commitment and thoroughness to see that the project was completed. She commended the Permanent Secretary for his support within the short period he assumed duty as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry.  Rufa’i also extended her thanks and commendation to the entire staff of the Ministry for their cooperation and commitment towards the success of the project.

Mr Joel Adi, the Managing Director/CEO of Anchor Dataware Solution, gave a brief description of how the facility works and how customers could access the center.