Former finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has supported a statement by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, that African countries need to start honouring African Union (AU) passport.
The passport, it is believed, is supposed to guarantee visa-free entry into any country in Africa.
But Dangote told Sudanese billionaire, Mo Ibrahim, last weekend that he was required to get visa to enter Angola despite possessing AU passport.
Dangote said: “Now they have issued us the African Union passport, a few of us. I didn’t pay for it. I’ve got one, and let me tell you this, (with) the one that I have, I went to South Africa quite Ok.
“But (with) this same African Union passport, I was invited by the president of Angola to come and see him, and I had to go — normally, I don’t travel much during fasting period, but I went. When I went there, I had to be given visa on African Union passport.”
Supporting his claim, Okonjo-Iweala wrote on Facebook on Tuesday that she too almost encountered delay to enter Mauritania and Morocco except for prompt intervention by the governments.
She wrote: “Aliko Dangote made an important point about all African countries honoring the new AU passports. I strongly support this.
“As one of the privileged holders using this for AU work, I would like to commend the authorities in #Ethiopia, #Ghana, #Cotedivoire, #Zimbabwe, #Tanzania, #Rwanda for immediate acceptance without visa.
“Mauritania issued a visa on the spot making passage very fast. Moroccan officials were initially not familiar with the passport.
“Thank you to the Moroccan authorities for fast action to rectify this! African governments must make this initiative work to prove we have collective will to move investments, goods, services and people across borders.”
