The African Democratic Congress has criticised the Federal Government for announcing that Japan would grant Nigerians a new “special visa category,” following a denial by Japanese authorities.
ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, in a post on X (Formerly Twitter) on Monday, accused the All Progressives Congress-led government of spreading false information for political gain.
“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 have become so desperate for positive headlines that they would not mind spreading #FakeNews”, he said.
The spokesperson further said the disclaimer was a national embarrassment that risked eroding public trust in government communications.
“The truth is, with this government, we don’t know what to believe anymore. This embarrassment just has to stop,” Abdullahi wrote.
His remarks followed a clarification by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan that its new “JICA Africa Hometown” initiative does not include granting Nigerians or other Africans special visas.
According to the Japanese government, the programme, launched at the ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development, is aimed at promoting exchanges between selected African countries and Japanese cities, not immigration privileges.
“Under this programme, four cities in Japan are designated as ‘hometowns’ for four African countries.
“JICA plans to promote exchanges between the four Japanese cities and the four African countries through various activities, including the organisation of exchange events involving JICA overseas cooperation volunteers.
“On the other hand, there are no plans to take measures to promote the acceptance of immigrants or issue special visas for residents of African countries, and the series of reports and announcements concerning such measures are not true,” the statement read.
However, PUNCH Online recalls that on Friday, the federal government issued a statement signed by the State House Director of Information, Abiodun Oladunjoye, announcing that Kisarazu city had been designated as a “hometown” for Nigerians and would provide a special visa category for highly skilled youths and artisans.
