The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has reacted to Japan’s denial of claims made by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration regarding the creation of a special visa category for Nigerians.
The interim spokesperson for the party, Bolaji Abdullahi, expressed frustration with the ruling administration’s attempts to garner positive headlines.
Naija News recalls that the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) announced the launch of the ‘JICA Africa Hometown’ during the 9th Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD9) in Yokohama, aiming to strengthen exchanges between African countries and Japanese local governments.
JICA designated four cities in four African countries.
A statement dated August 22 and signed by the Director of Information at the State House, Abiodun Oladunjoye, stated that the Japanese government would create special visas for skilled Nigerians and the development was widely reported both locally and internationally.
Japan Denial
However, the Japanese Foreign Ministry has confirmed that there are no plans to issue special visas for Nigerians, as initially stated by the Nigerian government.
In a statement released on Monday, the Japanese foreign ministry clarified that the “JICA Africa Hometown” programme, which was launched during the 9th Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD9) in Yokohama, aims to foster exchanges between African countries and Japanese local governments. However, it did not include any provisions for special visa categories for Nigerians.
“The JICA Africa Hometown programme plans to promote exchanges between the four Japanese cities and the four African countries through various activities,” the Japanese statement read.
“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.”
This Embarrassment Has To Stop
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.”
The post ‘This Embarrassment Has To Stop’ – ADC Slams Tinubu Govt As Japan Denies Special Visa Creation For Nigerians appeared first on Naija News.
