By Kingston Magare 26.8.2025
Contrary to claims by Nigerian government officials that the Japan was very ready to grant visas to skilled Nigerians to settle in Kisarazu, the Japanese government has said there would be no such express visas.
Nigerian officials had announced during President Bola Tinubu’s visit to the Asian country for the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, that Nigerians would have the opportunity to work and live in Japan based on a programme initiated by the government of Japan.
But according to the Japanese foreign ministry, there is no such free visa arrangement even as it confirmed four cities have been designated to host African nations.
“There are no plans to take measures to promote the acceptance of immigrants or issue special visas for residents of African countries, and the series of reports and announcements concerning such measures are not true,” said the foreign ministry in a statement.
Meanwhile the African Democratic Congress has knocked the Tinubu administration for promoting false information.
“At #TICAD9, the APC Federal Government claimed that the Japanese authorities had agreed to issue ‘special visa categories’ to Nigerians.
“This denial by the Japanese authorities shows that the Tinubu/APC government have become so desperate for positive headlines that they would not mind spreading #FakeNews”, he said. ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, posted on X.
“The truth is, with this government, we don’t know what to believe anymore. This embarrassment just has to stop.”
Nigeria's foreign minister Yusuf Tuggar and his Japanese counterpart, Iwaya Takeshi