President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday in Abuja held a closed doors meeting with the visiting Commonwealth Secretary-General, Kamalesh Sharma, during which a proposal for a visa free regime was discussed.

Mr. Sharma and members of his delegation were accompanied to the meeting at the Presidential Villa, by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Olugbenga Ashiru.

Briefing State House correspondents after the meeting, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Olugbenga Ashiru, said issues bordering on trade and free movement formed the basis of the meeting between the President and Mr. Sharma.

He said as parts of plan to gradually introduce the visa-free policy, ahead of the November Commonwealth Heads of State and Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo, Sri Lanka, “there is a proposal to exempt carriers of diplomatic and official passports from visa procurement.”

He said the gesture might be extended to members of professional bodies.

Mr. Ashiru said, “We also discussed the issue of free movement to promote people to people contact within the Commonwealth.

“In the past, it used to be that holders of Commonwealth passports could travel within the commonwealth countries easily without having to go and queue for visas. We are now thinking for ways to ensure that we bring back this old tradition of the Commonwealth.

“Already, the council of ministers have recommended for approval at the next CHOGOM meeting in Colombo the exemption of holders of official and diplomatic passports within the Commonwealth from the requirement of a visa if they are travelling within the commonwealth.”

The Commonwealth secretary also told State House correspondents that they discussed wide-ranging issues of mutual benefit to the group and Nigeria.

He said, “We talked of what contribution can be made by the Commonwealth in the post-2015 Millennium Development Goals.

“There was also the issue of deep bilateral collaboration between the Commonwealth and Nigeria.

“This extends to the election commission that has been working for a very long time and the observers even in the last election. It extends to the software we keep and renew on debt management.”

According to Mr. Sharma, the Commonwealth is also ready to work with the Nigeria government in the area of public administration.

“So, I am meeting a lot of ministers. I had a meeting in the morning with the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Finance and discussed many of these issues, especially as they relate to trade and liquidity, which are in the forefront of our membership,” he added.

AjanleKoko: People should try to read na. The article said 'official and diplomatic passport holders'.

Okija_juju: This one na wash.. No sane country will open its doors to Nigerians Visa Free.. Even Ghana sef wan begin dey collect Visa from us, talkless of the entire common wealth nations.


there will be noliving things left in nigeria , if there is a visa free for nigerians in any country. do you know wat we are talking about?
like to go london, visa free? na him be say there will be hold up in the british airport.
boko haran will take that as an advantage to commit a crime against humanity and unspeakable act, nigerian girls go turn commonwealth countries into prostitution zone, our boys go turn commonwealth to drug and 4 1 9 zone. infact and inshort. alot will happen in just 90 days. naija. una too much.












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Ada Nri1: lip service. Ordinary to practice medicine they force you to write IELTS in britain knowing fully well you were taught in English.but EU citizens who don't speak a word of english come n start practicing immediately. Hypocrisy

ighoosagie: Nija population don reduce b dat

blink182: don reduce abi e go empty. In my town na only 2 people I know say go remain-myself and one guy like that.

Patsey: [size=16pt]MEANING NIGERIANS CAN ENTER UK, CANADA, ETC, VISA FREE? NOW, THAT'S A DREAM THAT CAN NEVER BE REALISED IN SO FAR AS MEMBERS STATES (E.G. NIGERIA) CONTINUE TO MAKE LIFE UNBEARABLE, WITHIN ITS SHORES, TO ITS CITIZENRY. SOMEBODY SHOULD PLEASE ADVICE GEJ TO STOP MAKING CARICATURE OF HIMSELF BEFORE THE GLOBAL AUDIENCE. HE'S ALREADY GONE DOWN THE MEMORY LANE AS THE DUMBEST NIGERIAN PRESIDENT OF ALL TIME.[/size]