President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), Habu Gumel, said the British High Commission in Lagos, had assured his committee of a hitch-free Visa issuance to the nation’s contingent to the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
This is contained in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja in which Gumel was quoted to have said that the assurance was reached from the meeting between the NOC and the British High Commission’s Political Counselor, Mr. Jonathan Bacon.
It stated that the meeting was held at the ANOCA building.
Gumel in the statement stated that the welfare of the Nigerian contingent formed part of the discussions at the meeting.
He, however, said that the High Commission promised NOC a hitch-free visa issuance provided its contingent meet the prescribed visa requirements and the deadline for the submission of their applications.
The 2022 Commonwealth Games also known as Birmingham 2022 will hold in England between July 28 and Aug.8, 2022.
Gumel said that the NOC decided to hold discussions with the British High Commission so as to be well guided on how to obtain visas for Team Nigeria’s contingent that would be participating in the Commonwealth Games.
NOC’s president also said that the British High Commission had provided all the necessary answers to the relevant questions concerning visa applications.
“We are in the process of travelling to Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games. Definitely, the Nigeria contingent will require visas and that is the reason we requested a meeting with the British High Commission in Nigeria.
“We have received all the guidelines concerning visa processing for our contingent which are very important for us. All our questions had been answered.
“We got all the details we wanted at the British High Commission here as regards what is going to happen here and what will happen there in Birmingham.
“We are going to start processing our visas immediately so that members of our contingent will have their visas on time for us to be able to participate in the games and make our country proud,” he said.
The statement quoted Bacon to have said that the British High Commission was ready to partner with the NOC to ensure a hitch-free visa issuance to Team Nigeria’s contingent to Birmingham.
“We have discussed the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in July. It is going to be a fantastic event, so we have discussed preparations that NOC should make.
“We also discussed visa processing for members of the Games’ family who will be traveling to the United Kingdom.
“We want to make things as smooth as possible and to ensure that visa applications are submitted as soon as possible. We had a fruitful discussion,’’ he said.
NOC’s Secretary-General, Banji Oladapo, thanked the British High Commission for its cooperation with NOC and assured the commission that the traveling arrangements for Team Nigeria would be monitored.