Nigeria charges fees on countries with visa-free entry
Several countries have extended visa-free entry to Nigerian passport holders, but a closer examination reveals that these concessions are not always reciprocated.
Findings by BusinessDay reveal that while Nigeria grants visa-free access to citizens of 15 ECOWAS member states, it imposes visa fees on nationals of several non-African countries that extend the same privilege to Nigerians.
Countries such as Maldives, Mauritius, Palau, Seychelles, and Nevis, which grant Nigerian citizens visa-free entry, are charged visa fees by Nigeria. This lack of reciprocity raises questions about Nigeria’s visa policies and their impact on international travel and trade.
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Nigeria recently began charging visa fees to Kenyan citizens, despite Kenyans offering Nigerians visa-free access. Similarly, the nation previously imposed visa fees on Saint Kitts citizens until a recent policy review extended visa-free entry to them.
Wakanow, one of the biggest travel companies in Nigeria, listed top 25 countries and territories that typically allow Nigerian passport holders to enter for short visits without requiring visas or with visa-free access on arrival.
These countries include: Barbados, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Dominica, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Haiti, Kenya, Liberia, Maldives, Mauritius, Micronesia, Niger, Palau, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo and Vanuatu.
Visaindex.com, a one-stop portal for all information related to passport ranking and visa-free travel opportunities, reveals that among these countries, Nigeria grants paid-for visa-on-arrival to Maldives, Mauritius, Palau and Seychelles.
Nigeria slammed Tanzanians with paid-for online visas until the country started reciprocating.
Other countries that pay visa fees when their citizens visit Nigeria include: Vanuatu, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica, Fiji, and Haiti.
“Apart from ECOWAS States, we charge almost all the countries that grant us visa-free entry. At least Kenya is the most recent one. Our reciprocity is not exactly as we say it. We can say it’s a policy. America just proved to us that it’s not actually true,” Ikechi Uko, tourism and travel expert in Nigeria, told BusinessDay.
According to Uko, Tanzania started charging Nigeria for visas because Nigeria failed to reciprocate its free visa on arrival.
He noted that in the last three years, Ghana has signed agreements with South Africa, Morocco, Kenya and Zimbabwe, resulting in visa-free access by Ghanaians to these countries.
“Nigeria recently reciprocated the same treatment with St. Kitts, but how many people from St. Kitts come here? There are countries where Nigeria could grant free visa entry for ease of doing business. It’s a good policy. Visa is an artificial control mechanism. So, it would be good for us, knowing that our people travel and are business people,” Uko said.
He said if this policy has worked for Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda in the last few years, then it can work for Nigeria.
Susan Akporaiye, former president of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies, said she is worried when the Nigerian government and its immigration take some decisions that do not show readiness for tourism.
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“Countries that relax their visa and entry rules are countries that are ready for tourism. If we do not reciprocate to other countries, it is just a matter of time; they would do the same to us. We have not seen anything Nigeria has done to see that the US brings back the five-year visa they used to issue to Nigerians. Nigeria ought to have engaged the US by now,” Akporaiye noted.
She however mentioned that there are some countries Nigeria grants visa-free entry that do not reciprocate the gesture.
Data from the Nigeria Immigration Service show, for example, that Maldivian citizens pay $48, while Mauritians pay about $160 for a five-year multiple-entry visa. Citizens from Seychelles, Vanuatu, and Palau pay between $3 and $4 for short visits and up to $1,000 for temporary work permits.
Alex Nwuba, president, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of Nigeria/former Chief Executive Officer, Associated Airlines, told BusinessDay that if Nigeria continues to shut its borders to opportunities by restricting access to other Africans or making the visa process difficult and restrictive, opportunities will go elsewhere.
Nwuba said that while Nigeria has security considerations, there are protocols that other nations use to take advantage of the opportunities.
