The Federal Government of Nigeria has unveiled the country’s first visa application agency, Asfaar.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs made this known on Wednesday, August 20, 2025.
Launched in Abuja, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, explained that the launching of Asfaar is aimed at streamlining visa processes and combating document fraud.
Tuggar, represented by Alkasim Abdulkadir, his special assistant on media and communications strategy, explained that the state-of-the-art visa processing center is expected to transform international travel for Nigerians by enhancing transparency, security, and efficiency in visa applications.
According to him, the Asfaar platform, developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, integrates with Nigeria’s National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to ensure accurate identity verification through the National Identification Number (NIN).
He said: “Before now, one of the major issues countries have with Nigeria is the sanctity and integrity of its data.
“So what they usually say is that ‘We’re not sure whether it’s your country, people have fake passports, people are traveling on data of other countries to come to our countries’. These are some of the issues that Nigeria has been facing in the past.
“However, in the last two years, there has been a process to tidy up the data coming out of Nigeria.
“So, this includes collaboration with ONSA, collaboration with NIMC, collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure that the data—the passport and other documents of agencies—are tidied up and have the integral value for it to travel.
“What has now happened is that Asfaar came at the right time, where it is using its processes to ensure a further verification of the data that is provided.”
Jamil Hausawi, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Asfaar, said the agency was created to ease the increasing visa restrictions and challenges faced by Nigerians travelling abroad.
Hausawi said the platform will roll out in three phases, starting with the Middle East, followed by Asia and Australia, and eventually Europe and the Americas.
Hausawi noted that while visa approvals remain the responsibility of embassies, applicants using Asfaar will have relevant government agencies step in as intermediaries if issues arise.
