Dangote's Visa Struggles Highlight Africa's Travel Barriers

Aliko Dangote, the richest man in Africa, shared that he carries six or seven passports to facilitate travel across 38 African countries for his business ventures. Despite being invited to Angola by its president, he still had to apply for a visa.

This situation underscores the absurdity that a French passport allows easier access across Africa than a Nigerian one. The African Development Bank's Africa Visa Openness Index indicates that only about 28% of trips between African countries can be made without a visa.

The trend is worsening, with the percentage of trips requiring advance visa arrangements increasing from 47% to 51% in one year, while visa-on-arrival access has reached its lowest level ever. This contradiction exists alongside the African Continental Free Trade Area, which aims to create a single market of 1.4 billion people and $3.4 trillion in output, yet lacks the necessary infrastructure for free movement of Africans.