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Aliko Dangote says he faces excessive red tape when crossing Africa's borders.
Kigali, Rwanda CNN —
Even Africa's wealthiest people have difficulty traveling their continent.
Nigerian-born Aliko Dangote complains that despite doing business in multiple countries, he faces far more hurdles crossing Africa than visitors with European passports. divulge.
“As an investor and someone who wants to make Africa a great country, I have to apply for 35 different visas in my passport,” Dangote said at the recent Africa CEO Forum in Kigali.
“I really don't have time to go and leave my passport at the embassy to get a visa,” he said, drawing laughter from the audience.
The 67-year-old entrepreneur's visa dispute has sparked a new flare-up over the frustrations of traveling within Africa for Africans.
For many Africans, it is even more frustrating that European passports from former colonial powers allow them to enter Africa visa-free than many African passports. This is a point Dangote made forcefully when he turned to a French executive next to him in Kigali and said with a deadpan expression: You have more freedom in Africa than I do. ”
Dangote praised Rwanda for abolishing visas for all African nationals in 2023. Benin, Gambia and Seychelles also offer visa-free entry to all Africans.
However, many African countries still require visas from other Africans, and the experience is fraught with discrimination, hostility, and exorbitant fees.
Nigerian travel filmmaker Tayo Aina provides a stool sample in front of an Ethiopian immigration officer to ensure he has not taken drugs upon arrival in Addis Ababa in April 2021 He said he was forced to do so.
“Traveling within Africa was the most humbling experience,” he told CNN by phone from London. He has also been detained at airports in Kenya and South Africa because he was in possession of a Nigerian passport.
Earlier this year, Aina announced that she had purchased a $150,000 passport from the Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis so she could travel more freely. “Sometimes you go to a country and you're no longer on a visa on arrival. There are cases where you change your policy mid-flight and get deported when you land,” says the 31-year-old YouTuber.
The African Union says one of its goals is to remove “restrictions on Africans' ability to travel, work, and live within their continent by amending restrictive laws and promoting visa-free travel.” However, implementation is progressing slowly. Free movement within the continent is an important part of the African Continental Free Trade Area, but actions do not live up to that promise.
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The difficulty of crossing Africa's borders is a regular source of frustration for African travelers.
Fear of permanent migration is one of the reasons why African countries don't make it easy for other Africans to visit, migration researcher Alan Hirsch told CNN.
“There is concern in wealthy African countries that people from poorer countries are looking for ways to settle permanently,” he explains. “Many Africans cross borders informally, but we don't have real records of that. Some countries fear that people will apply for asylum and then disappear into obscurity.”
The retired professor from the University of Cape Town runs a program on migration at the New South Institute think tank in Johannesburg. He says the unreliability of passport and visa systems, particularly in poorer African countries, is hampering African mobility. “There are people who obtain passports through illegal means, for example by pretending to be Burundian when in fact they are not.”
Although Africans can move relatively freely within their own regions, it remains difficult to travel far. Travelers from East African Community countries do not require visas within the bloc, and most regions of Southern and West Africa allow entry to nationals of their respective regions.
But even as progress appears to be being made, new bottlenecks may emerge. A Nigerian visa on arrival previously cost $25 for Kenyan passport holders. But after changes to the application process, Kenyans must now apply for a Nigerian e-visa in advance, at a cost of $215.
Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters
Security personnel are seen at immigration checkpoint at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, Nigeria, September 7, 2020. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde
Kenyan President William Ruto famously pledged to abolish visas for everyone traveling to the East African country. He introduced an electronic travel authorization instead, but the application process is similar to that of a visa. It costs him $30 without fees and approval can take several days. Many visa applications require an application form, bank statements, and flight and hotel reservations. Applicants are often rejected due to incomplete documentation or unclear reasons.
“South Africa held my passport for almost five months,” says Tayo, a Nigerian content creator. His new St. Kitts passport allows him to visit more African countries than his Nigerian passport.
