The Nigerian industrialist, with a net worth of nearly $14 billion, told the Afreximbank Annual Meeting (AAM) taking place here that he needs 35 visas to travel around the continent, an impediment to his plans for investment. Dangote’s comments come as thousands of delegates from 40 African and 12 Caribbean nations gather in The Bahamas to forge closer economic and trade relations.
“We in the private sector are trying something and I think we are going to challenge some of our leaders to remove this thing of borders and move for the free movement of our people,” the billionaire said to applause from delegates. “All Africans moving in Africa should be getting visa on arrival. “We have already done that with Canada, the United States, Australia and others.”
Dangote said the argument that visa policy in Africa favours developed nations because of their more powerful currencies, was not valid.
“It’s not about strong currencies. “If I go to Angola, I can end up spending more money than a British person who has a budget. “I don’t have a budget but they are asking me to get a visa. “We as Africans must know that no foreigner can come and make your continent great. “It must be the domestic investors and this domestic investment attracts international investors,” he said.
Arnold Ekpe, the chairman of the Business Council for Africa, said it was concerning that decades had passed without a tangible solution to the challenge of travel within Africa for Africans.
“It’s easier to travel in Africa as a European than as an African,” he said. “Why have we not fixed that when we can fix it? “The biggest challenge is at a government level and the will to act. “Things in Africa get done in spite of government not because of government support.”
The former president of Afreximbank, Jean Louis-Ekra, said the continent’s challenges and solutions have been known for a long time, without progress.
“All the issues we are talking about, we have been talking about them for 40 years. “We have to move to action. “We may have all the recipes that we can get, but unless we put them in the oven, then there’s nothing to eat,” he said.
At the AAM, other speakers stressed the need for direct flights and removal of visa restrictions between Africa and the Caribbean, noting that at present trade between the two was under-performing. The African Union has also produced a readiness study showing that an Africa-wide customs union is possible. The customs union is a pre-requisite to the planned Africa-Caribbean free trade area.
Afreximbank or the African Export–Import Bank, is a pan-African supranational multilateral financial institution created in 1993 under the auspices of the African Development Bank.
The Bank has 50 member states, including Botswana, and by 2022 had assets of $31.1 billion.
