The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama has revealed plans by the Federal Government to sign a Visa-free pact with a bloc of eight African countries.
The Minster maintained that the pact will serve to strengthen and promote economic partnership among the countries.
The Minister who made the declaration yesterday at a news conference organised to mark one year in office of the President, Muhammadu Buhari however did not mention the countries involved.
Onyeama expressing optimism about the plans said: “it is expected that there will be upsurge in economic activities.
“Africa is the centrepiece of our foreign policy but it is a paradox that as a Nigerian, you cannot go to an African country without a visa unlike what is obtainable in Western Europe.
“To address this as a leader in the continent, the country is at a point of introducing an initiative to promote African trade as part of the country’s foreign policy of Africa as the centrepiece”
Explaining the plan further, Onyeama said: “We want to start with about eight countries or see if they come up as a group of eight countries. At the presidential level, they agreed to that, and signed up to free movement.
“If we can achieve that within a year, then other countries may want to join and we believe this is a better way to go than institutional ECOWAS etc, as countries take so long to ratify agreements.
He added: “We believe we can just start off, eight countries and they agree among themselves, then others will come in,”
He further said: “It is one of the cardinal strategies for the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment to facilitate investors doing business in Nigeria”
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