₦airaland Forum

Giving another instance, he said some countries lack spirit of agreement in the continent saying their practices were not supportive when the BUA Group tried to expand into those countries.

by Omotoyosi Idowu


The founder of BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, said South African authorities denied him entry because his visa expired a day before his arrival in 2025, while Europeans were reportedly allowed into the country without visas.

The business mogul disclosed his travel experience while speaking at the Africa CEO Forum titled “Africa at Scale: Capital, Policy, and the Architecture of Growth” on Thursday in Kigali.

The billionaire said he returned to Lagos after waiting at Cape Town airport for hours, noting the experience as part of the challenges faced by Africans in Africa.

“I had a personal experience. Last February, I was travelling to Cape Town for the Mining Indaba. And as we landed, I left at night from Lagos to Cape Town. We arrived at 6 in the morning.

“As we arrived, we went to immigration. I tendered my passport, and the immigration officer looked at it and asked, ‘Where is your visa?’ and I said, ‘My visa is there.’ Unknown to me, my visa had expired the day before.

“Unfortunately, our crew did not check the visa to ensure the visa was valid. We were there for four hours, but at the end of the day, I had to turn back. I was turned back to Lagos,” he said.

According to the BUA Group chairman, passengers from three international flights, most of whom were Europeans, were allowed into Cape Town without visas.

The businessman said he understood why he was denied entry, but noted that allowing foreigners from other continents into South Africa without visas while restricting Africans from entering did not sit well with him.

“But the issue is, while we were waiting to see whether we would be able to get access to the countries without visas, there were three international flights from Europe. All three flights were mostly Europeans.

“I was standing there by the immigration desk, and every passenger on those three flights went into Cape Town without any visa. I do not have a problem with the fact that I was there without the visa and I was returned. I took full responsibility for that,” he said.

“I had an issue with being an African in Africa, being turned away because I did not have a visa, while foreigners from other continents were coming in and were allowed to enter without a visa. This must change,” he said.


Lack of cooperation

Mr Rabiu said there is a lack of cooperation among African countries, which affects the movement of Africans and also frustrates business expansion from one country to another on the continent.

Giving another instance, he said some countries lack the spirit of agreement on the continent, noting that their practices were not supportive when the BUA Group tried to expand into those countries.

“At BUA Group, as we expanded our regional investment, we actively sought to supply several African markets under the African Continental Free Trade Area framework.

“While some countries embraced the spirit of agreement, others were less supportive in practice, with administrative barriers and legacy import structures limiting our ability to participate fully in regional trade.

“So really, AfCFTA is not working as it should. Because I had a personal experience in one of the countries that we tried to penetrate, we were actually frustrated,” he said.

The BUA Group chairman said the experience underscores a broader challenge facing Africa, noting that although the African Continental Free Trade Area framework was created to integrate African markets, implementation across the continent remains inconsistent.

According to him, true integration is what transforms potential into economic scale, with the AfCFTA serving as a key driver through its market of more than 1.4 billion people across 55 countries.

He described the AfCFTA as one of the world’s most ambitious integration initiatives, stating that “its promise is clear: intra-Africa trade, regional value chains, and industrial scale that no single economy can achieve alone. Its potential does not deliver outcome, execution does.”


Africa’s transformation

Mr Rabiu said Africa’s next phase of transformation largely depends on five areas: capital, policy, infrastructure, value addition, and integration.

According to him, Africa needs capital to finance ambition, policy to enable execution, infrastructure as the foundation of growth, value addition to unlock the full value of its resources, and integration to unlock scale and fully drive its next phase of transformation.

“Let me start with capital. Across the continent, institutional capital is expanding—pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and increasingly sophisticated private investment vehicles, yet infrastructure financing remains far below potential.

“The reality is clear: Africa is not short of capital; it is short of coordinated, mobile capital deployed at scale. We must unlock cross-border capital flows, harmonise investment frameworks, strengthen project preparation, and expand risk-sharing mechanisms for both domestic and international investments.

“Deepening capital markets is equally critical; cross-border listings, interoperable settlement systems, and expanded local currency trade are not merely technical reforms; they are strategic infrastructure,” he said.

He said segmented legal frameworks, overlapping approvals, and inconsistent enforcement continue to raise the cost of investment across many regions in Africa, describing them as structural constraints on growth.

“What is required is clear and transparent rules, predictable enforcement, and coordinated industrial strategies across borders. Alignment does not compromise independence; rather, it strengthens economic performance,” he added.

He reiterated that infrastructure is important to Africa’s growth, noting that no economy can industrialise without systems that power growth, including reliable energy, efficient ports, modern rail networks, quality roads, and digital connectivity.

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/879899-how-i-was-denied-entry-into-south-africa-bua-chair.html

Alhaji Rabiu should have renew his visa before embarking on the journey.

Kudos to the South African immigration, unlike our own bambiala immigration officers that all they know is to be begging money from both legal and illegal people coming and leaving the country.

His handlers, especially his PA, should be queried for the grievous error.
Some people don't have eyes for details.

Hmmm.... A whole you travelling with expired visa

Rules are rules, if your visa has expired then they have a strong basis to deny you entry.

Those Europeans they let in may have been more regular visitors who were known to them.

Let's be honest, Rabiu is a not a public person so the South African officials may not have recognized him

Some countries don't need visa to enter another country but since you need visa to enter south Africa and you said correctly that your visa had expired, I think south African immigration officers did the right thing 👍🏿. Rules should be rules both for the poor and rich

South Africans should be pitying themselves early as all these their irritating behavior will definitely have consequences. I mean decade old

This is similar to what Dangote said.


Dangote said as a Nigerian, he had to get visas for most of the African countries to do international business in those countries while his competitor is a French man did not need visas to enter African countries.


African countries cannot do business with each other because we have placed all sorts of blockades among ourselves while giving free access to the Europeans coming to exploit Africa.

madridguy:
Alhaji Rabiu should have renew his visa before embarking on the journey.

Kudos to the South African immigration, unlike our own bambiala immigration officers that all they know is to be begging money from both legal and illegal people coming and leaving the country.

just listen to yourself. Did u even read the story? He said he took full responsibility. But his only problem was that while an African was denied entry in another African country, Europeans from another continent were allowed to go in without visa.

Dude, thought it's a useless country where you can bounce and enter even without proper documents.

Yesz. SA is miles ahead of Nigeria is every aspect. I mean the White SA though

Kobicove:
Rules are rules, if your visa has expired then they have a strong basis to deny you entry

Rules for investors? Hahahahah

I bet if you white and among the richest that u are SA will allow you in

madridguy:
Alhaji Rabiu should have renew his visa before embarking on the journey.

Kudos to the South African immigration, unlike our own bambiala immigration officers that all they know is to be begging money from both legal and illegal people coming and leaving the country.

Pele. But those whites can enter the country without visa?

Kobicove:
Rules are rules, if your visa has expired then they have a strong basis to deny you entry

that's Africa's 2nd richest man. Even US and UK will let him go in on self-recognition.

You complain, but if your country is not up to par they would keep issuing you Visa to enter. A poor man always seek a rich man's permission to come to his house, but if a rich man enters a poor man's house he's joyous. So let us build a beautiful country. Your Passport carries a bigger demographic is it a Rich Demographic or a Poor Demographic.

madridguy:
Alhaji Rabiu should have renew his visa before embarking on the journey.

Kudos to the South African immigration, unlike our own bambiala immigration officers that all they know is to be begging money from both legal and illegal people coming and leaving the country.

He has already accepted responsibility on the expired visa. That is the same South Africa that is attacking other Africans to leave South Africa.

His concern is about African countries making entry into their countries difficult for Africans to do business.

Many Europeans can enter several African countries visa-free because of bilateral agreements, tourism policies, investment interests, or stronger passports. Meanwhile, Africans often face strict visa barriers when traveling to other African countries for business, conferences, or tourism.

This creates frustration because the African Union has long promoted ideas like regional integration, free movement, and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), yet movement between African states is still difficult in practice.

Africans frustrating Africans.

Kobicove:
Rules are rules, if your visa has expired then they have a strong basis to deny you entry

That's not the point he was trying to make...

He as much as said so and didn't blame the south African government for sticking to its visa rules.


What he questioned was the spirit of unity, cooperation between African countries especially when Europeans and Americans seem to have more freedom to do whatever and given preferential treatments just because of the color of their skin.


Charity should begin at home... not anywhere else!

Efuaye:
His handlers, especially his PA, should be queried for the grievous error.
Some people don't have eyes for details.

I really don’t believe the man’s story. He’s not telling the truth. Anyone that knows Rabiu knows there’s no way that kind of mistake would be made. He knew his visa was expired but decided to still go. He must have been getting away with it before that.

Funny enough, it happens to a lot of big men but last last, they are allowed entry after enough calls are made. Rabiu probably got upset after being made to wait like a commoner and decided to leave on his own.

Very shameful. Africa's 2nd richest man. Such a man should be allowed to go into any country visa free.
What harm will his being in SA bring to SA or its economy?

Goo0dHardDick:
Dude, thought it's a useless country where you can bounce and enter even without proper documents.

Yesz. SA is miles ahead of Nigeria is every aspect. I mean the White SA though

Keep fooling yourself, black SA is millenia ahead of you.

If Africa countries can give visa free to European why can't they give Africa investor Visa free... Abi

unity004:
Some countries don't need visa to enter another country but since you need visa to enter south Africa and you said correctly that your visa had expired, I think south African immigration officers did the right thing 👍🏿. Rules should be rules both for the poor and rich

The question you should be asking is the primary purpose of a visa...

tolu4you:
Pele. But those whites can enter the country without visa?

Ogbeni, this is not a new thing. Holders of passports of some countries are allowed entry into many countries without visas. Haba!

WorkTheTalk:
He has already accepted responsibility on the expired visa.

The issue he is concerned about is how African countries keep restricting entrance by Africans into their countries, whereas, citizens of other continents have entrance without visa.

Many of them will never read the full story...

E come even long small.


They also take delight in running down their own country at the slightest opportunity!

A working diplomatic relations would have allowed you in🤷🏿.
Someone like Reno Omokri will blame you.

Las las, Nigeria no get rating

South African businesses like MTN, Multi choice, Stanbic IBTC, etc are doing well in Nigeria and with no harassment whatsoever. The Xenophobic elements over there lack foresight.

thatigboman:
that's Africa's 2nd richest man. Even US and UK will let him go in on self-recognition.

I seriously doubt it, their own will even be worse

SA immigration officers did the needful.

Sorry Chairman for the embrassment. But I believe your closeness to Tinubu should be responsible for entry denial

Eyah,,so sorry for this sir..The only billionaire i admire in Nigeria..God bless u more sir