Abdul Samad Rabiu, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BUA Group, has recounted an incident where he was denied entry into South Africa after arriving with an expired visa. The businessman, who is Africa's second richest man, shared his experience at the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali during a presentation titled “Africa at Scale: Capital, Policy, and the Architecture of Growth.”
Incident at Cape Town Airport
According to Rabiu, the incident occurred in February 2025 when he traveled from Lagos to Cape Town to attend the Mining Indaba conference. Upon landing early in the morning, immigration officials discovered that his South African visa had expired just one day earlier. Rabiu noted that the error went unnoticed by his travel team before departure.
He spent several hours at the airport while efforts were made to resolve the issue, but ultimately he was refused entry and sent back to Nigeria. “Unfortunately, our crew did not check the visa to ensure the visa were valid. We were there for four hours, but at the end of the day, I had to turn back. I was turned back to Lagos,” Rabiu said. He accepted responsibility for the oversight.
Unequal Treatment of African Travelers
Despite acknowledging the mistake, Rabiu expressed concern over the differential treatment between African travelers and visitors from Europe. He claimed that while he and his team faced delays over visa requirements, passengers arriving on multiple European flights were allowed into South Africa without visas. “Watching foreign travelers gain easy access while an African citizen was denied entry in another African country highlighted a deeper problem with mobility across the continent,” he stated.
Rabiu argued that African nations need to rethink policies that make movement within Africa more difficult for Africans than for visitors from outside the continent. He called for improved regional cooperation and easier travel access for Africans across African borders.
BUA Foods Becomes Nigeria's Most Valuable Company
In related news, BUA Foods Plc has emerged as the most valuable company on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX). Its market capitalization climbed to N11.3 trillion ($7.5 billion) as of September 19, 2025, just three years after its listing on January 5, 2022. Since debuting on the NGX at about N1.15 trillion, BUA Foods has seen nearly a 10-fold rise in market capitalization.
Abdul Samad Rabiu recently overtook South Africa's Johann Rupert to become Africa’s second richest man. His experience in South Africa has sparked discussions about visa policies and the need for greater integration within the African continent.
