NIGERIA: S-Africa Begins Issuance Of 10 Years Visa To Nigerian Investors, Aviation Practitioners

Plans have reached an ad­vanced stage for the South African embassy in Nigeria to commence issuance of 10 years visas to Nigerian entre­preneurs and aviation practi­tioners.

This is as total trade volume between Nigeria and South Af­rica was estimated at $3 billion in 2022.

Speaking at the South Afri­ca Consulate/Aviators Africa Aviation Stakeholders Engage­ment hosted by Radisson Blu in Lagos over the weekend, Dr. Bobby Moroe, the Consul Gen­eral, South Africa Embassy in Lagos, said that the 10 years visa when it comes onboard, would replace the multiple three months visas issued to Nigerians by the South African government.

Moroe explained that the Ni­gerian business environment was very vast and it would be inappropriate to continue to issue only three months visas to citizens of the country, espe­cially those who transact busi­ness regularly between the two countries.

He explained that the ap­proval of a 10 years visa pe­riod for Nigerians would aid business, human resources, training and tourism expan­sion between the two coun­tries, stressing that rather for the two countries to compete, it was necessary for them to col­laborate to move the continent forward.

He emphasised that the op­portunity offered by the stake­holders’ engagement would enable participants to address some grey areas in the rela­tionship between Nigeria and South Africa, maintaining that it was necessary for aviation practitioners in the country to leverage on the memoran­dum of understanding (MoU) between the governments of the two countries to move the sector forward.

He said: “The South African governmenthasdecidedthatfor the entire continent, especially for Nigerians, we should start issuing10-yearvisastoinvestors and aviation practitioners. The Nigeria business sector is very vast and business and tourism sectors are intertwined

“The issuance of 10-year vi­sas to Nigerians would aid busi­ness, training programmes in South Africa and it is also in exchange of human resourc­es between the two countries. We are here to put our heads together, exchange ideas on how we can innovate in the aviation industry. We should not limit ourselves to issuance of visas alone.

“Aviation industry has been neglected for several years and some of us still look at it as elit­ist, which is wrong. Aviation is a huge sector, which has been undermined over the years. We must not be myopic about the sector, rather we should look at the opportunities in it.”

Moroe further lamented that despite the 29 years dip­lomatic relationship between Nigeria and South Africa, the two countries had signed sev­eral agreements, but failed to implement most of them.

Also, Mr. Greg Munyai, Trade and Investment, South Africa High Commission in Ni­geria, said that the total trade volume between Nigeria and South Africa stood at $3 billion as at 2022.

According to him, this was too little as both countries could do more to improve their busi­ness relationship.

He insisted that business between the two countries was lopsided as South Africa carried out more business transactions than Nigeria.

In order to balance the vol­ume, he said it was necessary for players in the aviation sec­tor in the two countries to look critically at the opportunities in the sector.

He said: “The total trade be­tween Nigeria and South Afri­ca was $3 billion. The amount may look big, but it is too little. South Africa remains number six in trade partners of Nige­ria. We buy a lot of oil in Nige­ria, but as it is, we are working hard to increase the product mix between the two countries.

“The biggest contributor to the two economies is service. From the South Africa point of view, the aviation industry has been taken seriously as we have a master plan for the sector.”

Earlier, Mr. Tony Ukachuk­wu, the chief host of the stake­holders’ meeting, said that the essence of the gathering was for Nigeria to form collabora­tion with South Africa.

Ukachukwu explained that the conveners wanted to facili­tate business transactions be­tween the two countries with focus on aviation industry de­velopment.

 

 

Source: independent.ng

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