The government of Japan has scrapped the ‘JICA Africa Hometown’ initiative initially announced by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The Japanese government said the initiative was withdrawn because it led to misunderstandings and confusion within Japan, and placed an excessive burden on the four municipalities designated to host the African Hometown project.

Naijaonpoint reports that the discontinuation of the programme was announced in a statement on Thursday, released via the JICA website.

It also apologised to the Japanese Local Governments initially designated for the hometowns for the inconvenience caused.

The statement read, “Originally, under this initiative, it was envisioned that exchange programs would be coordinated and implemented among the Japanese local governments, relevant African countries, and JICA. The specific details were to be determined later.

“However, JICA believes that the very nature of this initiative—namely, the term “hometown” and the fact that JICA would ‘designate’ Japanese local Governments as “hometowns”—led to misunderstandings and confusion within Japan, placing an excessive burden on the four municipalities. JICA sincerely apologizes to the municipalities involved for causing such situation.

“JICA takes this situation seriously. After consulting with all parties involved, JICA has decided to withdraw the “JICA Africa Hometown” initiative.”

Naijaonpoint recalls that the initiative was launched in August during the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development with the goal of promoting exchanges between four Japanese municipalities and four African countries through cultural and educational programmes.

In explaining the programme, the Nigerian government, in a statement by the Director of Information at the State House, Abiodun Oladunjoye, had claimed that Japan would create a special visa category for Nigerians who wished to relocate to Kisarazu, a city designated as “hometown” to Nigerians and other Africans under the scheme.

However, on August 26, the Japanese government denied the special visa plan.