{"id":123715,"date":"2017-10-14T04:01:50","date_gmt":"2017-10-14T08:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=123715"},"modified":"2017-10-14T04:01:50","modified_gmt":"2017-10-14T08:01:50","slug":"nigeria-to-start-issuing-visas-on-arrival-for-africans-au","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/10\/14\/nigeria-to-start-issuing-visas-on-arrival-for-africans-au\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria to start issuing visas on arrival for Africans: AU"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_123717\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-123717\" style=\"width: 626px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/African-Union.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-123717\" src=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/African-Union.png\" alt=\"Nigeria has decided to start issuing visas on arrival for all Africans, the African Union said Friday, in a major step toward the goal of free movement on the continent. (Photo: African Union\/Facebook)\" width=\"626\" height=\"626\" srcset=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/African-Union.png 626w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/African-Union-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/African-Union-300x300.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 626px) 100vw, 626px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-123717\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nigeria has decided to start issuing visas on arrival for all Africans, the African Union said Friday, in a major step toward the goal of free movement on the continent. (<a href=\"https:\/\/scontent.fmnl4-4.fna.fbcdn.net\/v\/t1.0-9\/17155236_10158164142375408_219716858625652104_n.png?oh=167fcfaafbb3a1529c7ee481a4db3458&amp;oe=5A70A2AC\">Photo<\/a>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricanUnionCommission\/\">African Union\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia \u2014 Nigeria has decided to start issuing visas on arrival for all Africans, the African Union said Friday, in a major step toward the goal of free movement on the continent.<\/p>\n<p>The continental body&#8217;s deputy chairman Kwesi Quartey praised the action as a \u201claudable move towards Africa&#8217;s integration agenda\u201d in a Facebook post.<\/p>\n<p>The AU has advocated for a \u201csingle African passport\u201d that aims to improve intra-African trade and has called for \u201cthe abolishment of visa requirements for all African citizens in all African countries by 2018.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A spokeswoman for the AU chairperson, Ebba Kalondo, told The Associated Press they were waiting for details from Nigeria as the news was \u201cannounced verbally with no formal communication.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nigerian officials could not immediately be reached. Nigeria announced the action at a retreat for permanent representatives, the AU&#8217;s political affairs office said in a tweet.<\/p>\n<p>Africans need visas to travel to 55 per cent of the continent, according to AU figures.<\/p>\n<p>According to the African Development Bank&#8217;s 2017 Africa Visa Openness Report , Africans can get a visa on arrival in just 24 per cent of other African countries, while North Americans, for example, have easier travel access on the continent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFree movement on the continent would entail the implementation of continent-wide visa-free regimes including issuance of visas at ports of entry for Africans,\u201d the AU suggested in February.<\/p>\n<p>Ghana, Rwanda, Mauritius and the Seychelles already issue visas on arrival to all African passport holders, the AU&#8217;s Quartey has said.<\/p>\n<p>In 2016, the electronic African Union Passport was launched and issued to heads of state and governments, with the goal of expanding it to citizens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia \u2014 Nigeria has decided to start issuing visas on arrival for all Africans, the African Union said &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":123717,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[27702,27701,690,2403],"class_list":["post-123715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-travel","tag-african-union","tag-africans","tag-nigeria","tag-visa","mauthors-elias-meseret","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}