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President Muhammadu Buhari has set up a committe to address issues that led to the placement of an immigration visa ban on Nigeria by the United States of America.
The US had on Friday included Nigeria among six countries it added to its list of countries banned saying the new immigration restrictions were designed to “address security concerns in the way the banned countries track their own citizens, share information with the U.S. and cooperate on immigration matters”.
Other countries added to the list on Friday are Eritrea, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, Sudan and Tanzania.
On Saturday, presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, said President Buhari had set up a committee to be chaired by Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, “to study and address the updated U.S. requirements”, adding that “the committee will work with the U.S Government, INTERPOL and other stakeholders to ensure all updates are properly implemented.”
Below is the statement issued by Adesina:
UNITED STATES SUSPENSION OF THE ISSUANCE OF IMMIGRANT VISAS TO NIGERIANS
On 31st January 2020, the United States (U.S) Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced temporary travel restrictions on six (6) countries including Nigeria.
For Nigeria, the restriction is the suspension of the issuance of “immigrant visas” to Nigerian passport holders only. This suspension shall come into effect on 21st February 2020. The suspension does not apply to other U.S visas such as those for official, business, tourism and student travel.
The DHS states the suspension of “immigrant visas” became necessary following a review and update of the methodology (performance metrics) adopted by the U.S Government to assess compliance of certain security criteria by foreign governments. This resulted in certain enhancements on how information is shared between Nigeria and the U.S.
Nigeria remains committed to maintaining productive relations with the United States and its international allies especially on matters of global security. Accordingly, President Muhammadu Buhari has established a committee, to be chaired by the Hon. Minister of Interior, to study and address the updated U.S. requirements. The committee will work with the U.S Government, INTERPOL and other stakeholders to ensure all updates are properly implemented.