Minister Links New US Visa Policy To Nigeria’s Refusal To Accept Venezuelan Prisoners

Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, has linked the controversial US visa restrictions on Nigerian travellers to Nigeria’s refusal to accept Venezuelan prisoners into the country as demanded by the United States.

Tuggar said this while speaking on the vexed issue on a current affairs programme of the Channels TV, ‘One-On-One with Tuggar’, on Thursday.

He said, “The US is mounting considerable pressure on African countries to accept Venezuelans to be deported from the US, some straight out of prisons. It will be difficult for Nigeria to accept Venezuelan prisoners.”

The Minister dismissed claims that the US action was a reciprocal measure against an earlier decision by Nigeria to impose a 90-day visa policy on US citizens travelling to Nigeria, stressing that Nigeria only introduced the policy for ease of operations.

He said, “we introduced an online electronic visa to save time instead of arriving before processing the visa. The online makes it easier. Our visa is not saying that every American is given only 90 days. We give more than three-year visa.”