Joseph Bakare
The Federal Government (FG) has made a passionate appeal to the United States to revoke the new visa restriction placed on Nigeria.
The visa restriction is set to come into effect today, Friday, February 21, 2020.
Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, made this call on Thursday, February 20.
He was speaking during a working visit by the US Ambassador to Nigeria; Amb. Mary Beth Leonard to his office in Abuja.
Among other issues discussed by the Minister and the US Ambassador were the visa reciprocity policy vis-a-vis; length of visa validity, partial refund for rejected visa applications, use of Dropbox, amongst others.
Issues on Visa Reciprocity Policy vis-a-vis; Length of Visa Validity, Partial Refund for Rejected Visa Applications, Use of Dropbox amongst others were discussed. The minister called on the US to quickly remove Nigeria from the Visa Restriction list.
Oriental News Nigeria reports that U.S. President Donald Trump included Nigeria and five other countries in an expanded version of his travel ban list early this month, sparking outrage from many of them.
U.S. officials have said the six countries failed to meet U.S. security and information-sharing standards, necessitating the new restrictions.
Aregbesola, made the request to drop the ban to the U.S. ambassador in Abuja, the ministry said in a statement.
“Nigeria is too important an ally of America to deserve such a sanction,” Aregbesola said, according to the statement.
“We are positive that (the) visa restriction is a temporary one, it will soon be put behind us,” he said, adding that Nigeria had complied with most of the concerns raised by the United States.
The statement did not say how U.S. Ambassador Mary Beth Leonard responded to the request, but it said she assured Aregbesola of “her country’s determination to continue to collaborate with Nigeria”.
Nigeria, is the biggest country on the list whose citizens will be suspended from U.S. visas that can lead to permanent residency.
The original travel ban, issued in 2017, barred nearly all immigrants and travelers from seven countries with majority Muslim populations.
The policy was revised amid court challenges, but the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately upheld it in 2018.
1 Comment
The US have stated that Nigeria has a big chance of removing the travel ban if the country can comply with the conditions being set by the US. Nigerians should not worry to much since they can still travel to the US even though there is a travel ban since it will not affect the immigrant visa application.