ELECTIONS: UK Pauses Operations at Lagos Visa Centers

According to a statement released by the United Kingdom, its visa application centers in Lagos will be closed on March 20.

This is due to safety concerns arising from the gubernatorial election scheduled for March 18.

The affected centers are in Ikeja and Victoria Island, and customers cannot collect their passports that day.

The statement reads, “This is to protect the safety of customers and staff. There are no VAC appointments booked on this date and customers will not be able to access the VAC to collect documents/passports.”

Customers are advised to purchase the “Keep my Passport and Courier return services” in advance to retain their passports during closure.

The UK further stated, “UKVI will continue to make decisions on all visa applications.”

Additionally, the statement notes that priority visa (PV) services will still be available. In contrast, the super priority visa (SPV) services will be suspended on Friday, with services resuming on Tuesday, March 21.

“Customers should not attend the VAC unless they have been contacted by TLS to do so. The British High Commission offices in Nigeria are not involved in visa decision making and do not hold passports and so are unable to assist,” the statement reads.

The Lagos gubernatorial candidates include Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party (LP), and Abdul-Azeez Adediran of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).