Nigerians and other foreign national doing business in Egypt are being charged $35,000 for business registration.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, who denounced the deposit of N19.2 million requested by the Egyptian authorities from foreigners, including Nigerians, to operate a commercial company in Egypt, during a recent meeting with the Nigerian community in Cairo, described the condition as unacceptable.

The meeting which was held on the sidelines of a bilateral discussion with the Africa Export Import Bank, Afreximbank, on how Nigeria can access funds to support its growing creative industry.

Alhaji Mohammed had directed some private sector stakeholders involved in digital change to Afreximbank to help them obtain funds to complete the private sector financially driven project.

Nura Rimi, the Nigerian ambassador to Egypt, while speaking at the meeting organised by the minister, said such a condition negates the unity that unites African countries.

He, therefore, promised to raise the matter with Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyema and other relevant bodies upon his return to Nigeria.

The minister also denounces the high number of Nigerian children who do not attend school in Egypt due to the language barrier and the unavailability of registered Nigerian schools in Cairo.

The Nigerian community had told the minister that the official language of education in Egypt is Arabic and that the few British- and American-run private schools in that country were exorbitant.

They said that no less than 7,000 Nigerian children in Egypt did not go to school and therefore, called for the construction of a Nigerian school in Cairo.

They also told the minister that because many of them were unable to pay the mandatory $35,000 deposit, their businesses had been labeled illegal while they were subject to regular harassment and arrest by Egyptian security officials.

The minister, however, called on the Nigerian community in Egypt to ignore most of the negatives stories about Nigeria, especially those on social media. (Daily Independent: Text excludes headline)

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