The government of Seychelles has confirmed that it has placed a ban on Nigerian passport holders who want to visit the country for holiday purposes.
Recall that some Nigerians took to social media last week to alleged being denied visas for no tenable reasons by Seychelles.
According to Seychelles News Agency, the country’s vice-president, Ahmed Afif, said the ban is because of an increase in dr¥g tr@fficking and fr@udulent activities by Nigerians.
“We have seen a clear link between this with certain people from Nigeria. In the past two weeks, for example, 13 people coming from Nigeria have been arrested when entering Seychelles because they were carrying dr¥gs into the country.
In one case, 62 Nigerians who said they were on holiday used false credit cards and the money was never credited to the accounts of these establishments.
These establishments have lost money. These people spent free holidays in the country at the expense of the establishment owners, and there is nothing that can be done for them,” he said.
He said there have been other incidents implicating financial institutions and in one case, Nigerians were involved in a fr@ud where £1 million was lost.
“There are other online sc@ms originating from Nigeria. We have seen that these people are also coming to Seychelles and doing those sc@ms.
We do not have a problem with Nigeria or its people, though we do not tolerate such criminal activities in our country,” he added.
He, however, said Nigerians with diplomatic passports, valid work or resident permits issued by the island nation will be allowed to visit.