The founder and Chief Executive Officer of BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, has recounted how he was denied entry into South Africa after his visa expired a day before his arrival, while European travellers were allowed into the country without visas.

Rabiu shared his experience yesterday in a presentation titled: Africa at Scale: Capital, Policy, and the Architecture of Growth, at the ongoing Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Rwanda.

The businessman said the incident occurred in February last year, when he travelled from Lagos to Cape Town for the Mining Indaba but was denied entry after immigration officials discovered that his visa had expired.

According to him, the oversight left him stranded at the airport for hours before he was eventually returned to Lagos.

Rabiu alleged that while he and his team were delayed over visa issues, passengers arriving on several flights from Europe were cleared into South Africa without visas.

“I had a personal experience. Last year, in February, I was travelling to Cape Town for the Mining Indaba. We arrived around 6 a.m. and, at immigration, the officer asked for my visa.

“Unfortunately, our crew did not check to ensure it was still valid. We were there for four hours and, at the end of the day, I had to return to Lagos,” he said.

Rabiu said he accepted responsibility for travelling with an expired visa but argued that the incident reflected the broader challenges Africans face within the continent.

“I do not have a problem with the fact that I was returned because I did not have a valid visa. I took full responsibility for that.

“My issue is being an African in Africa and being turned away because I did not have a visa, while foreigners from other continents were allowed entry without one. This must change,” he added