According to him, the visa cost $25 but Nigeria also charges $170 for biometrics every single time and another $20 as a processing fee, hence, for the three times he has been in Nigeria this year, the country has made the sum of $645 from him alone; meanwhile, there is supposed to be a borderless Africa.
A CNN International Correspondent, Larry Madowo, has taken to X platform to lament how the Nigerian government charged him $170 for biometrics for the third time this year for a one-month single entry visa.
Madowo in a video clip he posted on his X handle said that he has been to Nigeria three times this year and that each time he has been charged a total of $215 for a single entry visa, out of which, $170 is for biometrics despite that his fingerprints have not been changed.
According to him, the visa cost $25 but Nigeria also charges $170 for biometrics every single time and another $20 as a processing fee, hence, for the three times he has been in Nigeria this year, the country has made the sum of $645 from him alone; meanwhile, there is supposed to be a borderless Africa.
Madowo said, “So I’m back in Lagos. Actually I was here three weeks ago and one more time I have been charged $215 for a one-month single entry visa and here is the thing, the visa itself cost $25, but Nigeria charges you $170 for biometrics every single time.
“And then for good measure, another $20 for processing. So, make it make sense for me; my fingerprints have not changed since I was here three weeks ago. Why am I paying another $170 for biometrics?
“And after that, I have been here for three different times in 2024. So that is $645 that Nigeria has made from me. It is too much! It is plenty of money and these visas are showing me shege.
“I want to come back many more times, but how can we talk about borderless Africa when Africans are getting charged $215 for visas?
“Since I was here three weeks ago, I have gone to Uganda and South Africa and Ghana, and on a Kenyan passport, I don’t need visas to go to any of those places, but every time I’m back here, $215.”
According to him, “How can we achieve a borderless Africa - or AfCFTA - when visas are this hard?
“Nigeria's visa-on-arrival is similar to the "visa-free" delusion of Kenya's ETA - you apply in advance, submit some documents and wait for it to be approved.
“It can take up to five business days. If you know "someone," you can pay them $50 or more to "facilitate" a faster approval.”