Nigeria’s government has reacted to recent imposition of visa ban by the United States by creating a committee to hardly the issue.
The West African nation is among six countries, four of them in Africa that have been added to a visa ban announced on Friday by the U.S. government.
There were earlier reports of a possible suspension of U.S. immigrant visas to Nigerians and citizens of other African countries.
According to U.S. officials, Nigeria and countries like Tanzania, Sudan and Eritrea failed to meet U.S. security and information-sharing standards, resulting in the latest restrictions.
The Nigerian presidency said in a statement that President Buhari “has established a committee, to be Chaired by the Minister of Interior, to study & address updated U.S. requirements relating to the assessment of compliance with certain security criteria by foreign govts.”
“The committee will work with the U.S Government, INTERPOL and other stakeholders to ensure all updates are properly implemented,” the statement added.
It concluded that “Nigeria remains committed to maintaining productive relations with the United States and other international allies especially on matters of global security.”
STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE
UNITED STATES SUSPENSION OF THE ISSUANCE OF IMMIGRANT VISAS TO NIGERIANS: pic.twitter.com/1iVv2WySv4
— Presidency Nigeria (@NGRPresident) February 1, 2020
The new restrictions also apply to travellers and immigrants from Belarus, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar.
In September 2017, President Trump issued a travel ban prohibiting most people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen from entering the US.
The ban was on majority-Muslim countries but was struck down by a federal court and withdrawn.
Source: Africafeeds.com
