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Nigerian passport holders require a visa prior to entry into a lot of countries and sometimes, these visas are extremely painful to get. Some embassies would deny you out-rightly if you’ve never had a stamp on your passport, almost a case of the chicken or the egg…
In any case, this shouldn’t be a reason for you not to travel if you’re interested in doing so. Currently, there are about 50 countries (including ECOWAS countries) a Nigerian passport holder can travel to without the need to get a visa prior to entry. I haven’t been to most but I sure hope that I get a chance to see them all.
PS: For a full list of visa-free countries for Nigerian citizens, see this post.
What's Covered in this Post
Iran
I got a positive insight into Iran when I met a beautiful Iranian lady a few years back. She convinced me that Iran wasn’t as bad as the media plays it out to be. Every once in a while, I’d look up tours that go there but so far, haven’t made up my mind to go. But it’s nice to know that I can decide on the spur of the moment, pack up a bag and go. Iran offers a visa on arrival to Nigerian passport holders.
Maldives
Just look at this picture. Who wouldn’t want to be here? Away from all the madness of Lagos. The Maldives offers a visa on arrival for 30 days to Nigerian passport holders.
Other visa-free countries that offer a similar experience include Mauritius, Tanzania (Zanzibar), Seychelles, Fiji Island, Barbados, Cape Verde and Vanuatu. If you’re a budget traveller like myself, then you should consider the flight ticket costs when choosing a destination. I think Zanzibar is the cheapest so far.
Kenya
Kenya offers a visa on arrival for 90 days. A good way to maximize your visit to this Eastern African country is to combine it with its equally appealing neighbours. Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda are all options you can combine. And the new East African visa just makes life less complicated for us.
Ghana
Ghana might be the cheapest option on this list. This ECOWAS country requires no visa and the trip can be made by road. If you do plan to make this trip by road, you have to be mentally prepared for hassles at the borders (especially the Nigeria – Benin border at Seme).
Tanzania
Tanzania also offers a visa on arrival for Nigerian passport holders. This costs $50 (at the time of this writing). You can read all about my Tanzanian experience here
*Tanzania no longer offers visa on arrival to Nigerian citizens.
What visa-free destinations have you been to or are planning to visit? And which others do you recommend?
This is so informative! Thanks
Gambia is also a beautiful, though small, country. I’ve been there a couple of times (some years back though) and it had lots of tourists visiting too.
As a West African country, it is visa free for a Nigerian passport holder.
Thanks for sharing! Looking forward to visiting Gambia someday.
Tanzania is no longer visa on arrival for Nigerians. You now need to apply for Visa at their embassy in Nigeria before boarding the flight. Pity. Fortunately I was there in February before the policy was changed
Sadly, that’s true. I don’t want to have to edit all my posts on Tanzania so I included a disclaimer on the blog when I found out last week. I’m hoping they reverse it soon anyway.
I didn’t realize we could go to Iran and Maldives without visas as Nigerians!! Thanks for sharing!
No worries! 🙂 Thanks for your comment, Loriade.