- Tuggar dismissed reports claiming Nigeria triggered visa restrictions by cancelling five-year visas for US citizens.
- The US had imposed visa limitations on Nigeria over unresolved immigration disagreements and alleged asylum rejections.
The federal government has ruled out Nigeria as a destination for Venezuelan prisoners deported from the United States.
Yusuf Tuggar said Nigeria was not in a position to absorb such deportees, many of whom are reportedly ex-convicts.
The minister of foreign affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, spoke on Thursday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
Reports had indicated that the US was mounting pressure on some African nations to accept Venezuelans it plans to deport.
But Tuggar said Nigeria’s population and internal challenges made the proposition unacceptable.
“It would be difficult for countries like Nigeria to accept Venezuelan prisoners into Nigeria,” he said.
“We have enough problems of our own; we cannot accept Venezuelan deportees to Nigeria. We already have 230 million people.”
He also addressed claims linking Nigeria’s visa policy to recent restrictions imposed by US authorities.
The minister explained that Nigeria had made adjustments to its visa system for efficiency and security reasons.
“What Nigeria has done that differs is simple,” he said.
“We used to have visa on arrival that wasn’t running efficiently. We introduced these online electronic visas that you can apply for so that it saves you time instead of just arriving and then going through the process of getting the visa when you have already arrived.”
According to him, the e-visa system enables applicants to apply remotely with ease.
“The same way I am talking to you on my laptop, I can just simply apply for a Nigerian visa and you get it and then you fly and so it makes it easier. This is what we’ve done,” he added.
Tuggar stressed that US citizens still receive long-term visas contrary to earlier speculations.
“We have different categories of visas,” he said.
“There are people that are first time travellers that are coming as tourists that are probably not likely to come back to Nigeria again, maybe because they are coming for a short while and they get those 90-day visas.”
“Our visa is not saying that every American is only being given a 90-day visa or three months or whatever. We give Americans and loads of Americans these long-term visas.”
He said diplomatic efforts were ongoing between both countries to resolve the misunderstandings.
Tuggar noted that Nigeria had urged the US to review its stance in line with mutual partnership and shared international responsibility.
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