Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has disclosed that the federal government will look into the possibility of seeking a review of the $35,000 fee requested by Egypt from foreigners to operate a business enterprise in the country.
This was disclosed by the information minister during a recent meeting with the Nigerian community in Cairo, Egypt’s capital.
There are different fees for registering various categories of businesses in Egypt, including a limited liability company (LLC) nominee option said to cost $34,350.
The LLC alternative is said to be the most common in Egypt and can be 100% foreign owned”.
The meeting was held on the sidelines of a bilateral discussion with the Africa Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) on how Nigeria can access funding to support its growing creative industry.
Speaking at the meeting organised by Nura Rimi, Nigerian ambassador to Egypt, the minister described the deposit as unacceptable, saying it negates the unity that binds African countries.
He, therefore, promised to take the matter up with Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs, and other relevant bodies, upon his return to Nigeria.
The minister also expressed concern about the high number of Nigerian children out of school in Egypt owing to the language barrier and non-availability of registered Nigerian schools in Cairo.
The Nigerian community had told the minister that the official language for teaching in Egypt is Arabic and the few private schools being run by the British and Americans in the country had exorbitant fees.
They said no fewer than 7,000 Nigerian children in Egypt were out of school, and appealed for the construction of a Nigerian school in Cairo.
They also told the minister that because many of them could not afford the mandatory $35,000 deposit, their businesses had been labelled illegal, and claimed that they were subjected to regular harassment and arrest by Egyptian security officials.
Mohammed further appealed to the Nigerian community in Egypt to disregard most of the negative news about Nigeria, especially on social media.
“There is no country without its challenges. We are facing our own just like Egypt did some years back and they are out of it now,” the minister was quoted as saying.
“In Nigeria, we have the challenge of banditry, Boko Haram, and militants but that does not mean that Nigeria is at war.
“Nigeria in the last six years has been making tremendous developmental progress in infrastructure development, agriculture, aviation and other fields of endeavour.
“Unfortunately, the noise of the mischief makers have drowned the laudable success of the administration.
“I want to assure everyone of you here that whatever problem we have in Nigeria has nothing to do with religion or ethnicity.”