In faraway Egypt and possibly enjoying the accolades as the leader of Giant of Africa during the Aswan Forum, President Muhammed Buhari announced that anybody with an African passport need not apply for visa to visit Nigeria as visas will from January 2020 be issued on arrival. The order was made in line with Nigeria’s commitment to free movement of Africans within Africa, the statement maintained! Excellent, this is big brother in action, a friend acerbically shouted!
Without a critical evaluation and with our 30th position in the ranking of 54 African countries on easiness of getting a visa, one will say that it is a good policy that will open Nigeria to the rest of Africans. However, when it is properly examined, one is left a bit confused as to the need, the urgency, the socio-economic, political and security implications.
With our current position as the poverty capital of the world and almost on the same level with many African countries in the key growth variables such as poverty, skills set, FDI, rule of law, regulatory quality and government effectiveness, it is difficult to understand the benefits of the policy. Moreover, the planned implementation of the policy in January, just three weeks after the announcement raises further concerns. Why the urgency? As we are in a democracy, are pronouncements with extensive implications such as this not supposed to be widely discussed and agreed before it is announced and implemented. This is not the first time where orders and policies that are supposed to undergo wide consultation are just announced and even implemented arbitrarily. It is not the appropriate way to govern a plural society. There is a course called effective stakeholders management which I think will benefit the government.
Discussing with an elderly friend over the weekend, he wondered why there is a rush to implement the announcement from January when we delayed signing the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) for several months. Frustrated with the way things are going in our beloved country, he lamented that there might be more to the announcement that we are not privy to. The confusion is too much and unnecessary, he irritatingly concluded! And he is correct! How can we close our borders to reduce or eliminate smuggling of goods and illegal movement of people and at the same time planning to immediately start granting visas on arrival to anybody with an African passport? It does not add up!
A disturbing question with this policy is what kind of African will prefer Nigeria to other countries of the world including African ones such as South Africa, Rwanda, Kenya and Ghana. People mainly migrate in search of opportunities. That is the reason thousands of Nigerians and other Africans migrate to Canada, USA and Europe. With over 100 million Nigerians described as poor or extremely poor, it seems that majority of Africans that might prefer Nigeria are the ones that are also poor or poorer than the 100 million poor Nigerians. It seems like the Federal Government is determined to ensure that we maintain our enviable position as the poverty capital of the world, a friend reviewing the announcement stated. If this is the case, then we have a serious problem.
At the peak of Boko Haram crisis and subsequent herdsmen attacks, it was stated that a key cause of the problem is the proliferation of arms, foreigners from Libya and other troubled African countries. Interestingly, it was further affirmed that inadequate manpower and ineffective control of our porous borders significantly contributed to the crisis. With such disturbing situation which supported the closure of our borders, it is difficult to understand the basis of the visa on arrival policy when the inherent challenges such as the effective control of our borders have not been addressed. As earlier stated, there can be benefits from the policy, but it should be properly conceived, discussed, agreed, announced and implemented. Anything worth doing is worth doing well.
A disturbing question with this policy is what kind of African will prefer Nigeria to other countries of the world including African ones such as South Africa, Rwanda, Kenya and Ghana. People mainly migrate in search of opportunities
With PMB’s second term remaining about three years, I think it is time to start thinking about the kind of legacy to leave behind. It will be good that after leaving office in 2023, that Nigerians remember the government with good memories. Looking back at the last 5 years, it is not encouraging. Almost all the key economic growth indicators are heading south: poverty, unemployment and insecurity are on the rise, FDI is falling, monetary policies unorthodox and sometimes counterproductive and misaligned with fiscal policies; infrastructure is not significantly improving, and the country remain increasing divided along religious and tribal lines. With such dire situation of our beloved country, it is not the appropriate time for policies that are neither essential nor central to solving our present and emerging problems.
As Nigeria’s population is projected to rise to over 400 million by 2050, 30 years from now, the focus should be on how to innovate home grown solutions to put us on the part of sustainable growth and development. It requires effective leadership that will focus on issues such as: first, how to reduce cost of governance through bold reforms of our structure of governance particularly the national assembly. Is it not possible to have one senator and three house of representatives per state and can they not function as part-time legislators? Second, how to enhance the competitiveness of sub-nationals through effective devolution of powers to states and local government.
All that will be required to achieve this is the patriotic review of the exclusive and concurrent lists with more items moved from the former to the latter. Third is the need for an effective synergy of monetary and fiscal policies to give the right and convincing signals to the private sector on the intentions and plans of the government. Fourth is the deliberate strategy to improve the education and skills set of all Nigerians to ensure that our greatest asset (human capital) is properly developed and utilised.
FRANKLIN NNAEMEKA NGWU
Dr. Ngwu is a Senior Lecturer in Strategy, Finance and Risk Management, Lagos Business School and a Member, Expert Network, World Economic Forum.
