Despite Empty Booth Setback at TICAD9, Tinubu Regime Falsely Claims Japan Approved ‘Special Visa’ for Nigerians in Kisarazu

As Nigeria’s global image struggles to recover from an avoidable embarrassment after its booth was left conspicuously empty at the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD9) in Tokyo, President Bola Tinubu’s aide, Bayo Onanuga, alongside the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation (FMINO), falsely claimed that Japan had introduced a “special visa” scheme for Nigerian immigrants in Kisarazu.

The diplomatic embarrassment quickly drew public scrutiny and prompted a clarification from Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which issued a statement titled “Facts Regarding the JICA Africa Hometown.”

In its press release, Japan clarified that its International Cooperation Agency (JICA) had only launched the “JICA Africa Hometown” initiative, a programme designed to strengthen exchanges between African countries and Japanese local governments, drawing on the lessons learned from earlier projects.

As part of the programme, four Japanese cities were designated as “home towns” for four African countries: Imabari City (Ehime Prefecture) for Mozambique, Sanjo City (Niigata Prefecture) for Ghana, Nagai City (Yamagata Prefecture) for Tanzania, and Kisarazu City (Chiba Prefecture) for Nigeria. The initiative is intended to deepen cultural and community ties, not to create new immigration pathways.

However, Onanuga and the FMINO initially published statements falsely asserting that Japan had approved a “special visa” for Nigerian immigrants in Kisarazu.

The Ministry later retracted the claim, publishing a corrected version of its press release on Wednesday that removed the misleading information.

Japan, for its part, reiterated its stand, stating that, “There are no plans to take measures to promote the acceptance of immigrants or issue special visas for residents of African countries, and the series of reports and announcements concerning such measures are not true.”

Although the Nigerian government has since withdrawn the claim, the episode has further eroded public trust in the Tinubu administration. More critically, the spread of the false narrative, despite its retraction, risks undermining Nigeria’s diplomatic standing and the future of its relations with the Japanese government.

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Mayowa Durosinmi

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M. Durosinmi is a West Africa Weekly investigative reporter covering Politics, Human Rights, Health, and Security in West Africa and the Sahel Region

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