South African government says it is considering issuing a
10-year visa to Nigerian business operators to boost relationship between both
countries.
Thamsanqa Mseleku, South Africa’s high commissioner to
Nigeria, said this on Thursday during an Arise TV programme.
Mseleku encouraged more Nigerian businesses, especially
financial institutions, to expand their businesses to South Africa.
“Yes, Nigerian businesses are operating in South Africa, and
this issue was raised in 2019 when President Buhari was in South Africa,
specifically referring to Access Bank and Air Peace. Today, Access bank has
opened a bank in South Africa and is active and Air Peace is flying to South
Africa,” he said.
“So, the issue is that we must encourage more businesses that
want to go to South Africa from Nigeria to do so, particularly in the financial
sector.”
Speaking on the inaccessibility of visas to Nigerian
business personnel, the envoy said: “For business people, we are agreeing and
we would continue to implement longer term visas for them. We are now looking
at actually ensuring they get up to 10 years of visa because we are improving
the situation.
“We do agree that there is a challenge with relation
turnaround time because of the capacities in our embassies and these are some
of the issues discussed.”
Mseleku also said that the bilateral agreements being signed
by both countries would be fully implemented in the coming years.
“There is this notion that we just meet each other, sign
agreements and that is how we keep the friendships. But these two presidents
are very clear that it is not the kind of relationship they are looking for,”
the high commissioner said.
“They are going to supervise, work, and have joint reports
on implementations because they are serious on getting things actually working.
“So, this time around, I promise you, in two years’ time
when we see President Buhari in South Africa, we wouldn’t be saying ‘Was there
half implementation or no implementation?’
“I can promise that more of these agreements would have been
implemented.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa had recently
visited President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, Nigeria.
During the visit, new memoranda of understanding (MOU)
between Nigeria and South Africa were signed while existing ones were reviewed.
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