Based on the provided text, Japan denied Nigeria’s claim that a special visa would be issued under the Japan International Cooperation Agency’s (JICA) “Africa hometown” initiative. Japan has since asked Nigeria to retract its original statement and issue a new one to clarify the visa issue.
Japan’s Foreign Ministry released a statement on Tuesday to address Nigeria’s press release from the previous Friday. The Japanese government stated that the Nigerian press release contained “information inconsistent with the facts”, specifically concerning the issuance of a special visa.
Nigeria had announced that Japan would “create a special visa category” for skilled young Nigerians to live and work in the city of Kisarazu as part of the JICA initiative. The “JICA Africa Hometown” program designates four Japanese cities as “hometowns” for four African countries.
The initiative’s goal is to promote exchanges and various activities between these partner cities and countries. The Japanese Foreign Ministry clarified that despite this program, there are no plans to accept immigrants or issue special visas for residents of African countries.
The ministry stated that any reports or announcements regarding such measures are not true. Japan’s denial comes after the recent Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9).
The conference was held in Yokohama and hosted representatives from nearly 50 African nations. At the conference, Japan pledged a total of $5.5 billion in loans to African countries to support sustainable development.