
<p>In a move to strengthen South Africa-Nigeria ties, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa announced last night that efforts to create a favorable environment will include a simplified visa process for travelers coming in to South Africa from the West African nation.</p>



<p>With Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is in South Africa for the 11<sup>th</sup> session of the South Africa-Nigeria Bi-National Commission in Parliament in Cape Town, Ramaphosa added in his opening remarks: “Qualifying Nigerian business people can be granted a five-year multiple entry visa. In addition, tourists from Nigeria can now apply for a visa without submitting a passport.”</p>



<p>That the visa process, previously, has been cumbersome, has been widely reported.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">South Africa&#39;s President Ramaphosa: We want to see Nigerian products on the shelves of South African shops&#8230; Nigerian tourists can now apply for a visa without submitting a passport.&quot;<br><br>MXM <a href="https://t.co/4PLI7lJrb4">pic.twitter.com/4PLI7lJrb4</a></p>&mdash; Jonathern Thom 🇿🇦 (@JonathernThom) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonathernThom/status/1863991288649130038?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<p>A <a href="about:blank">2024 report</a> by the Centre for Human Rights (University of Pretoria) stated that South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs has a list of countries exempted from needing a visa for a 30- to 90-day stay in the country, but countries such as Nigeria, Senegal, The Gambia, Cameroon, Sudan, Somalia, to name a few, are not on the list.</p>



<p>“Despite Ramaphosa’s emphasis on immigration and tourism, the first year of his presidency saw 7,000 Nigerians get their visas rejected,” Mamadou Saidou Bah and Marie Rebecca Jolicoeur wrote in the report. “It is indeed true that South Africa is largely closed to other Africans but more welcoming to the wider world. When it comes to Africans, the visa regime of South Africa is applied rigidly and that is a contributing factor to the high rejections of visa applications by Africans.”</p>



<p>The president’s announcement garnered mixed reactions on social media.</p>



<p>“We already have a problem with these nationals in our country, now we further relaxing visa laws. Please make it make sense,” one user said on Instagram.</p>



<p>Another on <a href="about:blank" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">X said</a>: “The damage done by some Nigerians is hard to overlook. However, should we look into the business side of things? We can both benefit. Africa is our home. Let&#8217;s find a way to work towards making it a great continent.”</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">At this rate, the plan of ANC is to destroy South Africa. How does strengthening our relationship with Nigeria secure comfortable future of South Africans? 😩😭</p>&mdash; Oracle (@Oracle5152) <a href="https://twitter.com/Oracle5152/status/1864019886093062538?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">South Africans we are on our own!!!!<br><br>We want to see Nigerian products on the shelves of South African shops&#8230; Nigerian tourists can now apply for a visa without submitting a passport.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/HrBttGavw5">pic.twitter.com/HrBttGavw5</a></p>&mdash; Sir Cabonena Alfred (@Lebona_cabonena) <a href="https://twitter.com/Lebona_cabonena/status/1863942923806818371?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Trade between Nigeria and South Africa is significant, with Nigeria being South Africa&#39;s largest trading partner in Africa. Crude oil from Nigeria constitutes a major portion of this trade. With recent agreements focusing on easing visa restrictions for Nigerian businesspeople…</p>&mdash; People (@MadawaMan_) <a href="https://twitter.com/MadawaMan_/status/1864270349287768511?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 4, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<p>Ramaphosa also stated in his address that he would like to see more Nigerian products on the retail shelves in South Africa. Nigeria is South Africa’s largest trading partner in West Africa. He wishes to see more robust trade between the two countries.</p>



<p>“Nigeria and South Africa enjoy strong diplomatic ties and expanding trade and investment flows,” Ramaphosa said. “The strategic positioning of both countries in their respective regions presents enormous opportunities for collaboration.”</p>



<p>According to <a href="about:blank" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Africa Check</a>, in 2016, there were 30,000 Nigerians living in South Africa.</p>



<p>“The outcome of this 11th session of the Bi-National Commission reaffirms our commitment to strengthening existing ties and deeper collaboration between Nigeria and South Africa towards a future of shared prosperity, security, and progress for our people,” Tinubu wrote on X. “As two of Africa’s leading economies, Nigeria and South Africa must keep working together to ensure shared prosperity for our countries and Africa.”</p>


Nigeria-South Africa bi-national Commission held in Cape Town

South Africa To Ease Visa Rules To Strengthen Ties With Nigeria; Both Countries To Work Collaboratively To Boost Trade


<p><strong>Africa dominates the bottom of the rung in the 2020 Henley Passport Index. A majority of the continent’s passport-holders don’t have the luxury of visa-free travel around the world.</strong> </p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/African-countries-ranking-1.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="512" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/African-countries-ranking-1-1024x512.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42514" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/African-countries-ranking-1-1024x512.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/African-countries-ranking-1-300x150.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/African-countries-ranking-1-600x300.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/African-countries-ranking-1-768x384.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/African-countries-ranking-1-1536x768.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/African-countries-ranking-1.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption>  <em>[To see the infographic on Africa&#8217;s rankings, click on the image]</em> </figcaption></figure>



<p>The African Union may be gearing for a common African passport, but for now, it seems like most African passports don’t have what it takes to get to other parts of the world.</p>



<p>In the recently-released Henley Passport Index, which measures all the
world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can
access without a prior visa, only two African countries –Seychelles and Mauritius — are in the top 50.<strong></strong></p>



<p>The
rest of the continent dominates the bottom quarter of the rankings with weaker
passports than most, pointing to difficult and intensive visa processes in most
cases. </p>



<p>Africa’s
biggest economy and one of its most influential, Nigeria, is at the end of the
travel freedom spectrum, at a pitiful number 95 with Djibouti. Nigeria’s
population of 200 million can only travel to 46 countries without obtaining a
visa in advance.&nbsp; </p>



<p>Even
passport-holders from Samoa and Serbia have a better chance of traveling to
most places in the world, visa-free, than those in South Africa, the African
continent’s second biggest economy. </p>



<p>Ranked
56, the number of global destinations South African passport-holders can travel
to is 100. </p>



<p>It
is followed by its southern African neighbor, Botswana,
ranking at 62 with a score of 84.</p>



<p>Seychelles, the archipelago country in the Indian Ocean, is Africa’s
top-ranking African passport in this regard, at 29 with access to 151
destinations worldwide. </p>



<p>It is quickly followed by Mauritius which is at 32 with a score of 146
destinations passport-holders of this country can visit.</p>



<p>The lowest-ranking African country is Somalia at 104. Passport-holders
from this tiny nation in the Horn of Africa can only visit 32 countries without
a pre-departure visa</p>



<p>Globally, Asia dominates the list. For the third consecutive year, Japan
has secured the top spot on the index — which is based on exclusive data from
the International Air Transport Association (IATA) — with a
visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 191. Singapore holds on to its second place
position with a score of 190. </p>


Tag: visa-free travel

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

South Africa To Ease Visa Rules To Strengthen Ties With Nigeria; Both Countries To Work Collaboratively To Boost Trade

Emerging Economies, But Weaker Passports