Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, says the United States is pressuring African countries, including Nigeria, to accept Venezuelan deportees, some of whom are ex-prisoners, but Nigeria will not agree to this.
Tuggar made this known during an interview on Politics Today on Channels Television on Friday evening.
“The US is mounting considerable pressure on African countries to accept Venezuelans to be deported from the US, some straight out of prison. It will be difficult for a country like Nigeria to accept Venezuelan prisoners into Nigeria. We have enough problems of our own,” the minister said.
He strongly rejected the idea, saying, “We cannot accept Venezuelan deportees to Nigeria, for crying out loud. We already have 230 million people. You will be the same people that would castigate us if we acquiesce.”
Tuggar added that if Nigeria accepts these deportees, it might just be the beginning of more such demands from the US.
“I don’t think Nigeria is in a position to work with that. And I think it would be unfair to insist that Nigeria accepts 300 Venezuelan deportees,” he said.
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Tariff Not Tied to BRICS – Tuggar
The minister also spoke about the 10 percent tariffs recently placed on Nigerian exports to the US. Many believed the tariff hike came after President Bola Tinubu’s participation in the BRICS summit in Brazil, especially as US President Donald Trump had earlier warned against it.
But Tuggar explained that the tariffs “may not necessarily have to do with us participating in BRICS.”
Trump had also hosted five West African presidents, from Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, and Senegal, at the White House, but President Tinubu was not among them.
Visa Policy Not Based on Reciprocity
Tuggar also reacted to the recent US visa policy change, which now limits Nigerian travellers to single-entry, three-month visas. He said the claim that this new rule is based on reciprocity is false.
“We issue them five-year multiple entry visas, the same way that they issue regular travellers five-year multiple entry visas,” he said.
He explained that Nigeria recently introduced an online visa system to improve efficiency.
“Instead of just arriving and then going through the process of getting the visa, you can now apply online to save time,” he added.
The minister said that visa lengths vary depending on the category and type of traveller.
“Our visa is not saying that every American is only being given 90-day visas. There are loads of Americans that have these long-term visas,” he said.
Tuggar concluded by saying Nigeria is still engaging in talks with the US on all these issues.