‘Seychelles did not instruct any private organisation to issue travel advisory against Nigerians’ |19 July 2023

Minister for Internal Affairs Errol Fonseka has stressed that the government did not instruct any private organisation to issue a travel advisory against Nigerians.

He was answering a Private Notice Question (PNQ) from the leader of the opposition, Hon. Sebastien Pillay, who wanted to know why it was Travizory which was the first organisation to inform the public that Nigerian passport holders were not allowed to enter Seychelles and why it took the government four days to give an official explanation on the matter, and secondly why the matter was not discussed at diplomatic level between the two governments.

In his reply, Minister Fonseka said the statement from Hon. Pillay was not correct as the government never instructed a private organisation to make such an announcement to the public.

“It was the vice-president (Ahmed Afif) who first made the declaration on the matter after last week’s cabinet meeting,” Minister Fonseka told the National Assembly, adding the second part of the question was also false as “discussion between the ministry responsible for foreign affairs and their counterpart overseas was continuous”.

Highlighting the recent incidents involving Nigerian nationals, which he said “was an attack on our country”, Minister Fonseka stated that Seychelles would not tolerate any of those actions and what was requested was “actions that were quick, firm, clear and decisive and that is what we did,” adding that the immigration department’s mandate was to take actions to protect the country’s border.

According to the minister, among the 29 foreigners convicted for drug trafficking, five are Nigerians and out of the 33 foreigners on remand for drug trafficking, 13 are Nigerian nationals.

“There was never an order to prevent Nigerians from entering our country,” he stressed, saying there was no ground to deny access to Nigerian nationals who are gainful occupational permit (GOP) holders, formed part of an official delegation, or passengers on transit, among others.

“Our instruction was to increase surveillance on our borders against all threats of organised crimes and keep a closer eye on applications from Nigeria based on the recent tendency,” said Minister Fonseka.

However, his reply was challenged by the opposition members who questioned the minister, saying he was misleading the house. Hon. Sylvanne Lemiel, the elected member for Anse Royale, read out what she claimed was a directive from Travizory, issued on July 3, giving a clear order to deny entry to all Nigerian nationals, except for those with a valid GOP.

The leader of the opposition, Hon. Sebastien Pillay, also pointed out that the minister was misleading the house, stating that the internal alert was issued by Travizory to its staff and a second message was issued stating that applications by Nigerians had been denied as per immigration regulation, “for now we are not accepting any Nigerian passport,” he said.

Hon. Pillay also quoted Vice-President Afif who in his live cabinet press briefing last week admitted that an internal message was leaked.

“So Travizory acted rogue and the minister was misleading the assembly. So if travizory acted rogue, what actions will be taken against them,” queried Hon Pillay.

He added that 10 Nigerians working for local security firms have also been informed to do “immediate removal” of Nigerian nationals whose GOP is about to expire after a year.

Minister Fonseka maintained that “if a person is not involved with organised crime, there will not be any issues, but if a person has been named then there are security issues”.

The opposition also questioned Seychelles’ position on the order, since Seychelles recently signed an agreement with Nigeria for direct flights between the two countries.

“There are some good Nigerians but we have bad ones. Some will get Prohibited Immigrant (PI) straight away, some will not,” concluded the minister.

Minister Fonseka was accompanied by the principal secretary for immigration and civil status, Alain Volcère and chief immigration officer, Erica Dufresne.

Patsy Canaya