FG blames U.S tariff hike, visa restrictions on Nigeria’s refusal to accept deported Venezuelan prisoners

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conducting flights to remove illegal immigrants from the U.S.

The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) has insinuated that it’s refusal to succumb to pressures from the American government to allow Venezuelan deportees, especially prisoners to be deported to Nigeria, could be responsible for the new visa policy and the fresh 10 per cent tariffs imposed on the country by President Donald Trump’s administration.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Yusuf Tuggar, made this known on Friday in a television interview on Channels Television monitored by Business Hallmark.

According to him, the US is mounting pressure on African countries to accept Venezuelan deportees, stating that it would be difficult for Nigeria to do.

The minister clarified that the fresh 10 per cent tariffs imposed on Nigeria by President Donald Trump’s administration may not have anything to do with President Bola Tinubu’s meeting with BRICS nations.

“The issue of tariffs may not necessarily have to do with us participating in BRICS. You have to also bear in mind that 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.

“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 to accepting Venezuelans from US prisons to be brought in”, he said.

US President Donald Trump, on Wednesday, met with five West African Presidents of Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania and Senegal at the White House, Washington, D.C., excluding President Tinubu.

Trump also announced a 10 per cent tariff on Nigerian goods exported to the US, as many believed this was coming following President Tinubu’s visit to Brazil to participate in the BRICS summit, after Trump’s threat.

On Tuesday, the US Embassy in Nigeria also announced visa restrictions for Nigerians as it effected single-entry three-month visa validity.

Tuggar, however, argued that the tariff hike and other sanctions may not necessarily be a result of Nigeria becoming a partner member of BRICS.

The minister also said accepting Venezuelan deportees into Nigeria may only be the beginning, adding that it would be unfair for the US to insist on Nigeria’s acceptance.

“The issue of accepting Venezuelan deportees, honestly, I don’t think is something that Nigeria is in a position to work with.

“And I think it would be unfair to insist that Nigeria accepts 300 Venezuelan deportees. Maybe that might just even be the beginning”, Tuggar said.

He also addressed the new visa policy by the US, noting that the claim that the new policy was based on reciprocity was false.

The minister explained that Nigeria operated and issued a 90-day visa policy, the same as the US, stating that the only difference was that Nigeria had introduced electronic e-visas to save time.

“We are talking to the Americans. We are engaging them. We are also explaining and reminding them that we issue them five-year multiple entry visas, the same way that they issue regular travellers five-year multiple entry visas.

“What Nigeria has done that differs is simple. We used to have a 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.

“We have different categories of visas. There are people who are first-time travellers who are coming as tourists that are probably not likely to come back to Nigeria again, maybe because they’re coming for a short while, and they get those 90-day visas.

“So our visa is not saying that every American is only being given 90-day visas or three months or whatever. We give Americans, there are loads of Americans that have these long-term visas. It is not based on reciprocity”, the minister explained.