When a country repeatedly allows its citizens and artists to be humiliated at foreign borders without consequence, it is not practising diplomacy — it is practising submission. That is the uncomfortable reality at the heart of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s call for Nigeria to apply the principle of reciprocity when processing visa applications from South African artists and their entourages. Her argument is not sentimental, and it is not personal. It is grounded in a foreign policy logic that Nigeria has for too long been reluctant to enforce.
The immediate trigger was the reported refusal of entry visas to South Africa for Nigerian singer Ayra Starr and members of her team, an incident that forced the cancellation of scheduled engagements. Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, who represents Kogi Central in the Senate, responded with a public statement addressed directly to the Nigeria Immigration Service and the Federal Government, urging both to take matching measures until Nigerian citizens receive fair and respectful treatment from South African authorities. She was explicit that her call was not directed at South African artist Tyla as an individual, framing the matter instead as a question of sovereign dignity and diplomatic principle.
The principle of reciprocity is neither radical nor novel — it is one of the oldest instruments in international relations. When one state treats another’s nationals in a particular manner, the affected state is entirely within its rights to respond in kind, and indeed is often expected to do so. Nigeria’s failure to consistently apply this standard has contributed to a pattern in which Nigerian passport holders face disproportionate scrutiny, delays and outright refusals at borders around the world, while citizens of those same countries pass through Nigerian immigration with relative ease. Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan put it plainly: “Our foreign policy should protect the dignity of Nigerians everywhere and ensure that respect between nations is mutual, not one-sided.” That is not a controversial position; it is the baseline expectation of any functioning sovereign state.
The Nigeria-South Africa relationship carries its own particular history, one marked by recurring tensions over the treatment of Nigerians on South African soil, from xenophobic violence to discriminatory border practices. Against that backdrop, the senator’s call is not an overreaction to a single incident but a measured response to an accumulated pattern. She made clear that confirmation of the reports surrounding Ayra Starr’s visa denial should be sufficient grounds for the Nigerian government to act, and she is right. A government that waits for a pattern to become catastrophic before responding has already failed its citizens.
The implication is straightforward. Nigeria possesses genuine leverage in its cultural and economic relationship with South Africa, and it has consistently underused it. South African artists and entertainment professionals seek access to one of Africa’s largest and most commercially vibrant markets. That access is a privilege, not a right, and it should be conditioned on the same respect that Nigeria expects for its own nationals. Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan’s statement, signed off with “Viva Nigeria,” may carry a nationalist flourish, but the substance beneath it is sound policy reasoning. The Federal Government would do well to treat it as such.