ST GEORGE’S, Grenada, (CMC) – Nigeria’s richest businessman, Aliko Dangote, says it will be in the best interest of Grenada and other Caribbean Community (Caricom) member states to remove visa requirements for people from African nations.

Dangote, who is currently visiting Grenada, said this will result in more people visiting the islands from African nations.

He is recommending that advance visa requirements,  is obtained at an embassy as part of consular service, be replaced with an online system where applicants receive permission online or upon arrival once the relevant payment is approved in advance.

“As a matter of fact, if you remove visas and you make it visas on arrival… I can tell you that all the Caricom economy can double because you will see a massive inflow of people coming,” said Dangote, who was speaking during the inaugural Independence Fireside Chat with Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell and later during a news conference.

Dangote, who is here at the invitation of Prime Minister Mitchell for the 51st Independence celebrations, is the first guest of the Fireside Chat which was held at the Radisson Conference Room and attended by representatives from the business community, students and government ministers.

Describing visa requirements as archaic, the businessman said the new system should be one that is simply and in line with the use of modern technology for easy processing online. “Your mainstay is tourism, if the visa is difficult, how do you expect to have people visiting you in your nation,” he said, while pointing out that places like Dubai and Singapore benefited positively from not having visa requirements.

“That is what they did to grow their countries,” he said.

“People who cause trouble they don’t go through the airports they go through the borders, you are an island so I don’t think you will have those issues,” he said, while making reference specifically about Grenada.

Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have confirmed that Nigeria and several other African nations do require visas to enter Grenada and it must be obtained at the closest Grenadian embassy.

Once this visa is obtained its last for up to 90 days and multi visits can be made to Grenada.

A visa is an official document that grants permission for a foreign citizen to enter and stay in a specific country for a designated period of time.

It allows a person to legally travel there for purposes like tourism, business, study, or work, and is typically stamped in the traveler’s passport; essentially, it acts as a form of authorisation from the host country to allow entry and stay within its borders.