Nigeria must end visa barriers for Africans, urges scholar Lumumba

Kenyan scholar PLO Lumumba has called on Nigeria to dismantle visa barriers for Africans, arguing that such restrictions hinder regional integration and the goals of the African Continental Free Trade Area. Speaking at the 2026 Delta State Economic and Investment Summit in Asaba, Lumumba urged Vice President Kashim Shettima and other dignitaries to embrace easier cross-border movement.

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Your Excellency, the Vice President, Nigeria is the largest economy in Sub-Saharan Africa. I look forward to the day when an investor from Ethiopia can board a plane and arrive in Asaba without visas, landing cards or exit cards.

"I look forward to the day when there will be no visa requirements for an African coming into this country," Lumumba stated. He drew a parallel with Europe, where citizens can travel between many countries with minimal restrictions and a common currency, contrasting it with the difficulties Africans face moving between nations on their own continent. "We cannot build a competitive economy while remaining so fragmented," he added.

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I look forward to the day when there will be no visa requirements for an African coming into this country.

Lumumba also encouraged African nations to prioritize domestic investors over foreign capital. He expressed a desire to see more investors from Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, Morocco, and Egypt participating in summits like the one in Delta State. "Africans must begin to believe that they possess both the intellectual capacity and the financial resources needed to develop their own continent," he asserted.

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Today, you can move from Slovakia to Portugal using the same currency and with minimal restrictions. But here in Africa, moving from one country to another remains unnecessarily difficult. We cannot build a competitive economy while remaining so fragmented.

Furthermore, the former Director of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission advised the Delta State Government to emulate Norway's strategy for managing petroleum wealth through long-term investments. He noted that while Delta's economy is substantial, its resources require strategic harnessing to achieve sustainable development, similar to Norway's sovereign wealth fund.

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When we think about investment, we still imagine that our investors must come from Malaysia, Brazil or China. That is not the case.