Nigeria would starting welcoming nationals from other African countries from January, 2020. Although Nigeria’s President, Mohammed Buhari gave a hint about the plan while attending a peace and development summit in Egypt, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has notified the general public that it has gotten a go-ahead order to issue visa on arrival all Africans coming to Nigeria without Visa from January 2020. To that effect, the Service has launched the Africa–Frontex Intelligence Community (AFIC).
“The tool is actually coming at the right time. AFIC would help African countries especially Nigeria that want to open its border for all Africans to enter at will. And now that tool is available, it would make the work easier for us,” the Comptroller General, NIS, Mr Muhammad Babandede said.
Here Is All You Need To Know
- European border and Coast guard Agency also known as Frontex is an agency of European Union (EU) tasked with border control of the European Schengen Area, in coordination with border and coast guard of Schengen area member states.
“ This tool is keen if we want to implement an effective free movement across our border,’’ Babandede said.
“But our duty is unique and you may not see it as it is in Chad, Benin or Cameroon.The essence is that we are very keen and we have been working with EU for a long time. Frontex is in charge of border before they got another responsibility called coast guard which is also very keen to Africa especially checking member state of ECOWAS,” he said.
“I was opportune to be at the Frontex headquarters, and I came with useful tools which are for border and control centre. ”This has brought about the building of border and control centre which will be inaugurated next year. So the analytical system from Frontex, border control system and even mobility would all be in one place,” he said.
Comments:
Although the news may sound misleading, drawing a line between free visa and visa on arrival policy would be a lot significant. Nigeria is only granting visa on arrival to all African nationals and not free visa. Therefore countries like Seychelles and Benin Republic still remain ideal destinations for African nationals who are not required to present any visa to visit the countries. Nigeria is merely joining the league of countries like Madagascar and Somalia that grant visa on arrival to all African nationals.
To put things into perspective, Nigeria’s immigration law still requires immigrants into the country to fulfill certain conditions before entry, although Nigeria’s Minister of Interior is given wide powers to waive entry requirements in certain circumstances.
And of course, an interesting dimension to all this is a provision in the Nigerian Immigration Act that authorizes the minister to order the abolition or suspension of the requirement in Nigeria of a visa or other entry permit by nationals of that other country, where the Minister is satisfied that the Government of any other country or a Minister thereof permits the entry of citizens of Nigeria into that country without requiring a visa or other entry permit.
Read Also: Here Are The Top 20 Countries In Africa With The Most Visa Open Policies
The under-listed are still the top 20 visa open countries in Africa:
- Seychelles — visa free (53)
- Benin — visa free (53)
- Senegal — visa free (22), visa on arrival (31)
- Rwanda — visa free (17), visa on arrival (36), visa required (1)
- Ghana — visa free (18), visa on arrival (34), visa required (1)
- Uganda — visa free (18), visa on arrival (34), visa required (1)
- Guinea Bissau — visa free (14), visa on arrival (39)
- Cabo Verde — visa free (16), visa on arrival (36), visa required (1)
- Togo — visa free (14), visa on arrival (38), visa required (1)
- Mauritania — visa free (9), visa on arrival (44)
- Mozambique — visa free (9), visa on arrival (44)
- Mauritius visa free — (27), visa on arrival (21), visa required (5)
- Kenya — visa free (18), visa on arrival (32), visa required (3)
- Comoros — visa free (0), visa on arrival (53)
- Madagascar — visa free (0), visa on arrival (53)
- Somalia — visa free (0), visa on arrival (53)
- Djibouti — visa free (0), visa on arrival (52), visa required (1)
- Ethiopia — visa free (2), visa on arrival (49), visa required (2)
- Tanzania — visa free (16), visa on arrival (25), visa required (12)
- Gambia — visa free (28), visa on arrival (0), visa required (2)
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world