Category: International

The Japan International Cooperation Agency has cancelled its ‘JICA Africa Hometown’ initiative, citing “misunderstandings and confusion” over the programme.

JICA announced the withdrawal in a statement on its website on Thursday, weeks after reports claimed Japan would create a special visa category for Nigerians who wished to relocate to Kisarazu, a city designated as “hometown” to Nigerians and other Africans under the scheme.

On August 26, the Japanese government denied the visa plan after the Director of Information at the State House, Abiodun Oladunjoye, issued a statement relaying that Japan would introduce a “special visa category” for highly skilled, innovative, and talented young Nigerians who want to move to Kisarazu to live and work.

Clarifying its position, JICA said the use of the term “hometown” and the idea of “designating” Japanese municipalities as such led to “misunderstandings and confusion within Japan, placing an excessive burden on the four municipalities.”

The statement read, “Originally, under this initiative, it was envisioned that exchange programs would be coordinated and implemented among the Japanese local governments, relevant African countries, and JICA. The specific details were to be determined later.

“However, JICA believes that the very nature of this initiative—namely, the term “hometown” and the fact that JICA would ‘designate’ Japanese local Governments as “hometowns”—led to misunderstandings and confusion within Japan, placing an excessive burden on the four municipalities. JICA sincerely apologizes to the municipalities involved for causing such situation.

“JICA takes this situation seriously. After consulting with all parties involved, JICA has decided to withdraw the “JICA Africa Hometown” initiative.”

The initiative was launched in August during the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development with the goal of promoting exchanges between four Japanese municipalities and four African countries through cultural and educational programmes.

JICA, however, stressed that it had never undertaken initiatives to promote immigration and has “no plans to do so in the future,” adding that it would continue supporting other forms of international exchange.

In August, confusion arose after the State House announced that Japan had designated Kisarazu city as the “hometown” for Nigerians and would introduce a special visa category for young, skilled Nigerians wishing to live and work there.

However, the Japanese government quickly dismissed the claim.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan clarified that while the JICA Africa Hometown initiative aimed to promote cultural and developmental exchanges between selected African countries and four Japanese cities, it did not involve immigration benefits or special visas.

The clarification came after Nigeria’s Chargé d’Affaires in Japan, Florence Akinyemi Adeseke, and Kisarazu’s Mayor, Yoshikuni Watanabe, publicly received a certificate naming the city the “hometown” of Nigerians, further fuelling reports of migration opportunities.

Nigerians filed over 7,646 asylum applications in Sweden between 2000 and 2024, according to official figures from the Swedish Migration Agency, Migrationsverket.

Data obtained by Saturday PUNCH from the agency’s portal, covering the period, showed a consistent stream of Nigerian asylum seekers in the Nordic country.

A total of 6,783 asylum applications from Nigerian nationals were recorded between 2000 and 2021.

In 2022, there were 288 applications, followed by 200 in 2023, and 375 in 2024. Of the 375 applications received in 2024, 239 were first-time claims, while 136 were follow-up “extension” requests from persons whose temporary status was about to expire.

Women filed nearly two-thirds (159) of all first-time Nigerian claims, and half of every Nigerian applicant was between 25 and 44 years old, as no one over 64 applied in 2024.

Children accompanied 60 adult applicants, while one child travelled alone and registered as an unaccompanied minor.

Similarly, in 2023, there were 160 adults, 39 children in families, and one unaccompanied child among first-time asylum seekers from Nigeria.

Over the longer period from 2000 to 2021, a total of 132 unaccompanied minors from Nigeria applied for asylum.

The number of new applications for international protection peaked in 2003 at 452 and again in 2013 at 601, but the volume has never reached the scale of applications seen from countries experiencing internal conflicts.

Across Africa, Nigeria is among the top five countries of origin for asylum seekers in Sweden.

However, Somalia, Eritrea, Sudan, and Ethiopia far surpass it in numbers due to ongoing conflict and instability.

Somalia alone accounted for more than 54,128 applications since 2000, followed by Eritrea with over 39,000, then Sudan, Libya, Morocco, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Other countries include Uganda, Egypt, Cameroon, The Gambia and Burundi, Kenya, Algeria, Tunisia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ghana, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mali, Zambia, Djibouti, Côte d’Ivoire, Angola, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, and single-digit applications from Benin, Niger, Equatorial Guinea, the Central African Republic and Mauritania. Nigeria, however, remains West Africa’s largest contributor of asylum seekers.

According to the reports, the migration from these countries is often directly tied to large-scale conflict and instability, a factor that distinguishes them from the lower, more consistent flow of applicants from Nigeria.

Swedish authorities say the distinction is significant as it enables a fast-track process for nationalities with historically high rejection rates, defined as a rejection percentage of 85 per cent or higher.

In 2024, Nigerian asylum seekers had an 88 per cent rejection rate while Colombians had 99 per cent.

Globally, the highest asylum grants in Sweden went to nationals of Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Somalia, Iraq, Iran, Ethiopia, Palestine, Ukraine, and stateless persons.

On the other hand, the highest denials were recorded among applicants from Nigeria, India, Bangladesh, Albania, Georgia, Mongolia, Russia, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.

The Swedish government says it prioritises claims linked to war, persecution, or statelessness over applications driven by economic factors.

Sweden’s asylum regime is rooted in the Aliens Act (Utlänningslagen), which incorporates both EU asylum directives and the 1951 UN Refugee Convention.

A successful applicant must demonstrate either refugee status (fear of persecution), eligibility for subsidiary protection (risk of serious harm in war or conflict), or humanitarian grounds such as severe illness or family reunification.

In recent years, however, Sweden has shifted toward more restrictive policies.

Since 2022, it has issued more temporary residence permits, limited family reunification programmes and tightened deportation enforcement.

Following the record influx of asylum claims in 2015, the Swedish parliament introduced a temporary emergency law that curtailed family reunification rights and made almost all new permits temporary. The main features were ratified in July 2021.

Under its 2023 Tidö Agreement, the current centre-right coalition, bolstered by the far-right Sweden Democrats, imposed “the EU’s minimum level” of protection, which uses tougher naturalisation and welfare rules as explicit deterrents.

To be granted asylum in Sweden today, an applicant must clear at least one of the classic Geneva or EU thresholds—fear of persecution, risk of torture or death, or indiscriminate violence—or demonstrate “exceptionally distressing” humanitarian circumstances.

Meanwhile, Abuja-based development economist Dr Aliyu Ilias, reasoned that the exit of more Nigerians and their permanent settlement abroad meant a loss of skilled labour for the country.

He said that with Nigerians battling economic headwinds and deteriorating security at home, the asylum route, however uncertain, still appeared to offer a better prospect.

“So, it is a total brain drain in the long run, and for the economy, it is reducing our GDP. The appalling part is that most of our Nigerian brothers and sisters who go out do not return,” he added.

The European Union proposed Friday to bring forward a ban on Russian gas imports as part of a new package of sanctions aimed at sapping Moscow’s war chest — and pleasing US President Donald Trump.

Under the measures presented for approval by the bloc’s member states, the European Commission said it aims to phase out liquefied natural gas purchases from Russia by January 2027 — one year earlier than planned.

“Russia’s war economy is sustained by revenues from fossil fuels. We want to cut these revenues. So we are banning imports of Russian LNG into European markets,” Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said.

“It is time to turn off the tap”.

The proposal comes as the United States pressures the EU to end fossil fuel imports from Russia — and the bloc seeks in turn to persuade Trump to take a tougher stance on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

The US leader has so far held back from upping pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin but said last week he was ready to do so if allies stopped buying Russian oil and hit China with tariffs.

The 27-nation EU has already banned most Russian oil under previous rounds of sanctions — slashing the share it imports from 29 per cent in early 2021 to two per cent by mid-2025.

Only Hungary and Slovakia, friendly to Moscow and Trump, still buy the stuff.

– ‘Pay the price’ –

Presenting the new EU sanctions package — the 19th targeting Moscow since the Ukraine war began in 2022 — von der Leyen made no mention of oil.

But EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc was bringing forward by 12 months a previous pledge to end all imports of LNG by the end of 2027.

“Our aim is to speed up the phase-out of Russian liquefied natural gas by 1 Jan 2027,” she wrote on X.

“Moscow thinks it can keep its war going. We are making sure it pays the price for it.”

Despite a push to end decades of European dependency, Russia still supplied 19 per cent of the EU’s gas in 2024 — down from 45 per cent before the war.

This is in part due to an increase in purchases of LNG transported by sea, which has partially offset a sharp fall in pipeline imports.

In 2024, 32 billion cubic metres of gas entered Europe via the TurkStream pipeline, and 20 billion cubic metres through liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments.

Most LNG is imported through terminals in France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium — although it is hard to know how much is also consumed there or simply passes through towards other nations.

The United States — the world’s top oil producer — is the largest supplier of the stuff, accounting for almost 45 per cent of total EU LNG imports.

AFP