Tuesday, August 26, 2025 - The Japanese Government has denied a report going around that it intends to make visas available to skilled Nigerians and professionals to travel to the country in Kisarazu, a city that has been designated as a ‘hometown’ for Nigerians for employment purposes.
Kisarazu was designated a ‘City for Nigerians’ following the
nation’s appearance at the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African
Development (TICAD9) last week in Yokohama, as the Japan International
Cooperation Agency announced the launch of ‘JICA Africa Hometown’ to strengthen
the bilateral cooperation with African States.
JICA designated four cities in four African countries.
Kisarazu was named as Nigeria’s hometown; Nagai as the hometown of Tanzania;
Sanjo was matched to Ghana; and Imabari as the hometown of Mozambique.
According to reports, some government officials in Nigeria
have been peddling the news that the government of Japan would create a special
visa to attract skilled Nigerians and professionals to Kisarazu to reside and
work.
“Artisans and other blue-collar workers from Nigeria who are
ready to upskill will also benefit from the special dispensation visa to work
in Japan,” according to reports.
The development was widely reported locally and
internationally.
Japan’s foreign ministry, in a statement, denied that it is
on such a mission as it stated that there was no official document to back such
claims, though the ministry said four cities in the Asian country indeed
designated four cities to African nations, including Nigeria.
It confirmed that the “JICA Africa Hometown” programme plans
to promote exchanges between the four Japanese cities and the four African
countries through various activities, including the organisation of exchange
events involving JICA overseas cooperation volunteers.
“On the other hand, 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,” the statement added.
The Japanese foreign ministry said it would continue to
issue appropriate statements on the subject.
0 Comments