May 25, 2024 Edit
*Kigali, Rwanda (CNN) — Even Africa’s wealthiest man has trouble traveling in his own continent. Despite doing business in multiple countries, Nigerian-born Aliko Dangote complains he faces far more hurdles crossing Africa than visitors with European passports ever do.
“As an investor, as someone who wants to make Africa great, I have to apply for 35 different visas on my passport,” Dangote told the recent Africa CEO Forum in Kigali.
“I really don’t have the time to go and drop off my passport in embassies to get a visa,” he said to laughter from the audience.
The 67-year-old entrepreneur’s visa woes have reignited a fresh firestorm about the frustrations of traveling within Africa for Africans.
It’s even more infuriating for many Africans that European passports from former colonial masters have more visa-free access in Africa than many African passports. It’s a point Dangote made powerfully in Kigali, when he turned to the French executive next to him and deadpanned:
“I can assure you that Patrick (Pouyanné, CEO of Total Energies) doesn’t need 35 visas on a French passport, which means you have freer movement than myself in Africa.”
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