AFRIMA commends AU's single passport

 Chairperson, African Union Commission,  Dr. Nkosazana-Dlamini-Zuma

The International Committee of The All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) has commended the African Union (AU) for the launch of a single, common electronic passport (e-Passport) for all Africans at the just concluded 27th AU Summit, in Kigali, Rwanda.

It also applauded the ultimate goal of the single passport which is set to realize the dream of visa-free travel for African citizens within the African continent by 2020.

In the same vein, the AU’s single, common electronic passport throughout the continent falls squarely within the framework of Africa’s Agenda 2063 and has the specific aim of facilitating free movement of persons, goods and services around the continent in order to foster intra-Africa

trade, integration and socio-economic development.

Reacting to this development, President/ Executive Producer, AFRIMA, Mike Dada, said, “The African Union's plan to allowing free movement of citizens within the African continent is a stepping stone towards building stronger unity among African nations and this is what we at the

International Committee of AFRIMA have been canvassing and propagating for years in line with the AFRIMA’s vision.

“For us in AFRIMA, it is a strong step towards making every African citizen to think and act beyond national identities and identify themselves as citizens of the African continent with a sense of pride that, ‘I am an African.’

“We have found that it is easier to travel to Europe and America from Africa than Africans travelling within Africa. Yearly, we face a big hurdle in visa processing, direct flights and protocol to bring in over 880 nominees/superstars and their guests, 150 production crew members,

international media and over 2000 international invited guests to the AFRIMA Awards ceremony annually.”

“The single passport will also ease and facilitate one of the AFRIMA objectives which is to engage all the stakeholders who are critical to the awards process to give them a platform for knowledge sharing and capacity-building on the continent. AFRIMA has embarked and organised

stakeholders’ engagements and press conferences in over 25 African countries in the five regions of Africa. This we will do until we cover the 54 member states,” he concluded.