ADC flays Tinubu, APC
Japanese government and its international aid agency, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) have debunked information spreading across social media and foreign media outlets surrounding a newly launched cultural exchange initiative linking Japanese cities with African nations.
The programme, dubbed the “JICA Africa Hometown” initiative, was officially unveiled last week during the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9) held in Yokohama.
It designates four Japanese municipalities as symbolic “hometowns” for four African countries, to foster deeper cultural and developmental ties.
According to JICA the participating cities include Nagai in Yamagata Prefecture paired with Tanzania, Kisarazu in Chiba with Nigeria, Sanjo in Niigata with Ghana, and Imabari in Ehime with Mozambique.
However, shortly after the announcement, speculation began circulating online, claiming the initiative was a pretext for encouraging mass immigration from Africa to Japan. Some viral posts falsely suggested that Japanese cities would soon be resettled by African immigrants, and a Nigerian government website even reported that a special visa category would be created for Nigerians wishing to live and work in Japan.
But JICA and Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs have rejected these claims.
JICA clarified that the selection was based on previous collaborations and local ties developed during past initiatives, including the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, where some of the cities hosted African teams.
“There are no plans to issue special visas or promote immigration under this programme. The initiative is focused solely on cultural and developmental exchange through community events and volunteer cooperation,” JICA clarified in an official statement.
MEANWHILE, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has called out President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) for allegedly misleading the country by claiming that the Government of Japan has agreed to issue special visa categories to Nigerians.
The National Publicity Secretary of ADC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, stated on his X handle that the Japanese authorities had denied knowledge of such approval and expressed concerns that such lies placed the people in a difficult position as to what to believe anymore.
The ADC stated: “At #TICAD9, the APC Federal Government claimed that the Japanese authorities had agreed to issue ‘special visa categories’ to Nigerians.
“This denial by the Japanese authorities shows that the Tinubu/APC government has become so desperate for positive headlines that they would not mind spreading #FakeNews.
“The truth is, with this government, we don’t know what to believe anymore. This embarrassment just has to stop.”
