The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has faulted the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration after Japan denied reports that it planned to create a special visa category for Nigerians.
ADC’s interim spokesperson, Bolaji Abdullahi, criticised the government for what he described as an attempt to score cheap publicity with misleading announcements.
The controversy stems from the launch of the ‘JICA Africa Hometown’ initiative during the 9th Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD9) in Yokohama.
The programme, introduced by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), seeks to strengthen exchanges between African countries and Japanese local governments.
Under the scheme, four Japanese cities were designated as “hometowns” for four African countries: Kisarazu for Nigeria, Nagai for Tanzania, Sanjo for Ghana, and Imabari for Mozambique.
However, in an August 22 statement signed by Abiodun Oladunjoye, Director of Information at the State House, the Nigerian government announced that Japan had agreed to issue special visas for skilled Nigerians under the initiative. The claim was widely circulated in both local and international media.
Japan has since disowned the report. In a statement on Monday, its Foreign Ministry clarified that while the ‘JICA Africa Hometown’ programme will promote cultural and local-level exchanges,
“there are no plans to take measures to promote the acceptance of immigrants or issue special visas for residents of African countries.”
The ministry stressed that any reports suggesting otherwise were “not true.”
Reacting to Japan’s recent clarification, Abdullahi slammed the All Progressives Congress (APC) led government’s narrative, accusing them of fabricating information to bolster their image.
He said: “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 has become so desperate for positive headlines that they would not mind spreading #FakeNews.”
He added that such behavior by the government undermines trust in its statements: “The truth is, with this government, we don’t know what to believe anymore. This embarrassment just has to stop.”