Freedom advocacy teams, together with civil society actors, and media practitioners, have urged Nigeria to grant residents of African Union member states visa-free entry.
They argued that Nigeria’s restrictive visa coverage hurts its financial system and continental affect, and referred to as for simpler journey to enhance tourism, funding and commerce.
They made the decision on the Conference of Freedom Advocates (CFA) 2026 in Abuja on Saturday. Liberalist Centre organised the occasion in partnership with the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), BudgIT and third Eye TV, with funding from Atlas Network.
Johnson Sanni, chief working officer of Liberalist Centre, mentioned the convention, themed “ADVANCE”, aimed to promote liberty, innovation and citizen-led management.
He pressured the necessity to defend particular person rights, uphold the rule of regulation and permit residents to pursue alternatives and form their destinies.
Call for a visa-free Nigeria
During a panel session titled “The Case for a Visa-free Nigeria”, apeakers warned that Nigeria’s restrictive visa coverage undermines its participation within the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The dialogue featured Abdullah Tijani, journalist and govt director of The Liberalist; Chike Donald, govt director of Simplefix Nigeria; and Tolulope Gbenro, president of Grow with D Oracle Empowerment Foundation.
They questioned the usage of visas as a supply of presidency income. In their view, enterprise journey, conferences and different financial actions may generate larger advantages when folks transfer extra freely.
They cited the Henley Passport Index to illustrate the imbalance in worldwide journey entry. The July 2026 version ranked Nigeria’s passport ninetieth amongst 199 passports. It additionally confirmed that Nigerian passport holders may entry 44 locations with out acquiring a visa prematurely.
Figures on Nigeria’s visa openness additionally confirmed that far fewer nationalities can enter the nation with out prior visas than the variety of locations Nigerians can entry by way of related preparations overseas.
The audio system recognized tourism, funding and commerce as sectors that would profit from simpler motion throughout borders. They famous that tourism accounts for under about three per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product.
They urged Nigeria to prioritise African international locations earlier than extending visa-free or visa-on-arrival entry extra broadly. They advocated reciprocal preparations amongst African international locations, citing Kenya and Rwanda as examples of nations that had taken steps to ease entry for different Africans.
Nigeria, they argued, had been gradual to reciprocate and had tightened entry restrictions for some nationalities, together with South Africans.
They additionally challenged the safety argument for strict visa restrictions. According to them, terrorism, banditry and kidnapping stem largely from porous land borders and native recruitment, not guests arriving by way of worldwide airports in Lagos and Abuja.
To handle safety considerations, they really helpful fashionable screening methods, together with biometric checks and advance passenger data, at main entry factors. They maintained that visa restrictions shouldn’t function Nigeria’s foremost safety measure.
“Openness begets openness,” they argued, including that international locations that admit extra guests freely are higher positioned to safe simpler journey entry for their very own residents.
Concerns over expertise and the justice system
Apart from the decision for visa-free entry, audio system examined how expertise dependence, weaknesses within the justice system and authorities insurance policies have an effect on freedom and improvement.
Speaking on synthetic intelligence and human freedom in Africa, Dipo Ige, a lawyer and group lead at LawDigits, urged African international locations to develop applied sciences that handle native wants. He challenged them to transfer past copying international AI traits and determine issues in well being, agriculture and schooling that expertise may resolve.
He argued that AI ought to serve African pursuits fairly than deepen dependence on international applied sciences.
He pressured: “Our constraints should shape our strategy, not stop our ambition.”
On Nigeria’s justice system, Festus Ogun, managing associate at FOLEGAL, questioned whether or not the courts nonetheless serve strange residents.
Speaking on “What to Do with Our Rule of Law”, he argued that the system treats poor and rich Nigerians otherwise.
Mr Ogun questioned whether or not the judiciary remained the “last hope of the common man” or had develop into the “lost hope of the common man”. He argued that strange residents wrestle to acquire justice, making Nigeria’s system a “judicial system” fairly than a justice system.
He recognized repeated adjournments, judges’ absence and extended proceedings as obstacles that go away litigants pissed off, even after they ultimately win their instances. He referred to as for reforms to handle systemic issues inside the judiciary.
Government accountability and financial freedom additionally featured within the discussions.
During a session titled “Beyond Good Intentions: Why Freedom Must Shape Nigeria’s Next Generation of Reforms”, moderated by Oluwabukola Adimula, Programmes Associate at African Liberty, members questioned the quite a few taxes and costs imposed on Nigerians, together with financial institution card upkeep charges, and the way governments spend the income.
Panelists Bayonle Fesobi, Director of Research at Ominira Initiative, and Chike Donald, Executive Director of Simplefix Nigeria, criticised successive governments for recycling insurance policies with out addressing earlier failures.
They described taxation as “theft” when residents obtain little in return. They additionally referred to as for stronger monitoring and analysis of presidency insurance policies to forestall administrations from abandoning programmes with out assessing their outcomes.
At a hearth civic panel titled “What Would You Advance? Changing Perspectives From Citizen Frustration to Sustainable Solutions”, Leonard Ogunweide, founding father of Face of Liberty International, moderated the dialogue.
Hashimu Adamu, Chairperson of the AU-EU Youth Voices Lab Youth Advisory Board and Executive Lead of Voices & Data for Policy and Development Initiative, Tolulope Gbenro and Khadijat Akewushola, a Public Policy and Governance Specialist on the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), urged residents to maintain all three tiers of presidency accountable.
They inspired Nigerians to determine group issues, have interaction related public establishments and mobilise others to develop options. They additionally challenged younger folks to take accountability for social change fairly than postpone their contributions.
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At a session titled “The Price and Promise of Freedom in a Changing Africa”, Abinye Briggs, Victor Ndeche, Head of Operations at Glass Institute, and Joy Una, a public affairs and coverage skilled, examined how financial hardship and weak public establishments prohibit particular person freedom.
They recognized poor infrastructure, unreliable electrical energy, weak healthcare and low buying energy as boundaries to financial exercise and enterprise progress.
Drawing on examples from different international locations, they highlighted social assist methods reminiscent of free public schooling, childcare help, meals assist and transport advantages. They argued that these measures ease the burden of fundamental wants and provides folks larger alternatives to pursue their ambitions.
The audio system additionally referred to as on governments to enhance residing circumstances, given their management over monetary and human sources. They pressured that residents should take part in governance past searching for political workplace or becoming a member of protests.
Participants share classes from the occasion
In interviews with PREMIUM TIMES, members highlighted classes from the convention and the way they deliberate to apply them.
Zaka Peter, Chief Executive Officer of Lifted Initiative, mentioned a breakout session on monitoring public funds, facilitated by BudgIT on the convention, taught him how to monitor authorities spending and maintain officers accountable for initiatives they fail to ship.
The convention additionally inspired him to communicate up about social points regardless of his earlier worry of public talking.
“One of the motivations I got here is that whether you speak or you don’t speak, you are still going to die. So, speak for the next generation,” he mentioned.
He promised to share the data with different younger Nigerians by way of his organisation and social media platforms.
Also, Chenka Sunday, a UNICEF Global Youth Advisor and U-Reporter, mentioned the convention strengthened her understanding of the precise to entry public data.
“The generality of what I’m taking home is that I can question the government because it is my right,” she mentioned.
She mentioned a breakout session on freedom of knowledge, facilitated by CJID, taught her how to submit data requests. It additionally supplied steerage on the suitable officers and establishments to method. The session inspired her to train her proper extra actively and demand solutions from public establishments.
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