Expectations are high that Nigerians with business interest in the South African economy may soon heave a sigh of relief as the newly appointed South African High Commissioner to Nigeria; Mr. Lulu Luis Mnguni, has disclosed his readiness to revisit the country's visa regime in order to ensure that Nigerians doing business in South Africa gets a three-year.
He made his intensions known while responding to complaints from the Nigerian business community that SA embassy has formed the habit of issuing a three-month visa to business men who have permanent and genuine businesses in South Africa; a situation they said has prompted many to frequent the embassy for another visa on return to Nigeria.
The high commissioner who decried the existing visa regime said such practice if allowed unchecked, could continue to kill businesses and may affect future trade relations between South Africa and Nigeria.
At the September breakfast meeting of the Nigeria South African Chamber of Commerce, yesterday, Mnguni explained that on his assumption of office earlier this year, he told the Nigerian embassy in South Africa that "we have applied for a granting of three-year visas to their business people, they said they will also try and push towards that."
"So we have done this and we are monitoring it as we move on so as to increase it or at least do something about it. And of course, we have seen businesses being frustrated due to short duration visa given to the promoters of such businesses.
So we said this is not good. "If we are serious about promoting vibrant businesses in South Africa and Nigeria, we have to increase it to three years visa for business people. We need to embrace each other and we have to make sure that business people will get three-year visas and on time too," the high commissioner said.
He believes that SA cannot look at relationship with Nigeria outside and independent of the history of the country as it relates to those sister countries that helped South Africa in fighting for self rule.
Mnguni recounted his experience as one of those who were involved in the South African struggle, further stated that the country's high commission discussed the issue of no-visa requirement for the Nigerian diplomatic corps passports and the South African president accepted the idea.
