Dangote urges African nations to grant Africans visas upon arrival in order to promote trade

The industrialist lamented a situation where “we go with a British guy or maybe a Nigerian holding a British passport (and) he is allowed in” after recounting a personal encounter.

Aliko Dangote, a multibillionaire businessman, has urged African nations to deliberately liberalize integration and permit simple entry and leave for Africans.

At the 30th Afreximbank Annual Meetings on Sunday in Accra, Ghana, the CEO of the Dangote Group said that if the continent was serious about fostering intra- and inter-African trade and investment prospects, they should embrace visa on arrival.

Why not provide Africans visas on arrival to facilitate trade, I believe that African countries should consider this. He proposed, giving the example of an African who needs a visa to enter “country A.”

The industrialist lamented a situation where “we go with a British guy or maybe a Nigerian holding a British passport (and) he is allowed in” after recounting a personal encounter.

We were arguing and discussing over my visa, and I was the one with the money, he said. There is no way I will go and invest if you are making my life tough.

The Chairman of the Afreximbank Annual Meetings, Mohamed Maait, also spoke at the occasion and emphasized that the continent could use its trade and investment portfolio to boost its economy.

“If you look at the treaty documents that established the Organisation of African Unity, they very clearly set out an objective, and that objective is that we must have economic integration in Africa and that we must introduce tools to advance that objective of economic integration in Africa,” he said.

Leaders from the past and present, as well as the finest business minds on the continent, were gathered in Accra to honor the event.

Olusegun Obasanjo, a former president, Wole Soyinka, a Nobel laureate, and Niyi Adebayo, a former minister of industry, trade, and investment, were also in attendance.

Africa has seen a number of difficulties over the years, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine dispute, an increasing debt profile, and the effects of instability on the continent.

Therefore, despite the continent’s enormous resources and investment potential, it became crucial for African nations to find a way out of this precarious situation.