Nigerians were stunned when US President Donald Trump on Friday, January 31, imposed immigrant visa restrictions on them following the seeming inability of the Nigerian government to provide detailed security information on prospective immigrants.
It however, appeared fortuitous that the ban came just few days before the commencement of the two-day 5th session of the US-Nigeria Binational Commission (BNC). The BNC which started in 2010 is a platform to take the US- Nigeria relations to a higher dimension. The theme of this year’s Session was ‘US-Nigeria Relations: Mutual Prosperity through Ingenuity’, which just ended in Washington DC on Tuesday, February 4 at the US Department of State.
The US imposed immigrant visa restrictions on Nigeria, Eritrea, Sudan, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan and Tanzania following alleged lack of credible background investigation system that security groups such as Interpol can rely on to vet and certify the originality of prospective immigrants to the US.The ban dampened moral in Nigeria and led to pessimism about a possible backlash on the US-Nigeria relations.
However, a strong Nigerian Delegation led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, engaged their US counterparts on varied issues over the visa ban and with unassuming diplomatic strides, apparently raised hope that within just about one month, the US may lift the ban as Nigeria had quickly met almost all the requirements demanded by the US.
Much of this optimism for a quick resolution of the visa row was expressed on Tuesday when United States Secretary of States, Michael Pompeo, met and assured his Nigerian counterpart, Onyeama, that Nigeria, being the second largest trading partner of the US in Africa, could have the visa restrictions lifted in the shortest possible time.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Pompeo, in a joint press conference with Onyeama, after a closed door meeting, confirmed that the ban was necessitated “in part due to terrorism threat.” He added that Nigeria has room to grow in sharing important national security information.
“I am optimistic that’s going to happen. In the proclamation, President Trump highlighted Nigeria’s importance as a strategic partner in the global fight against terrorism and recognized the government’s commitment to improving information sharing with us,” Pompeo said.
The Nigerian side in the dialogue appeared set in their effort to redeem the nation from this apparently ugly development. In a deft and astute diplomatic move, the Nigerian team secured a deal that is most certain to quell the controversy and make Nigerians optimistic again.
Onyeama, told reporters on Monday after a closed session with the US officials that the US was concerned over Nigerian data system and third party involvement in the management of the passport system especially information and data on lost and stolen passports.
“One of their concerns is that the data we provide should not go through third party and we have been using a third party in the management of our passport issues. So, they are a bit worried that security information should not go through private third parties before they become available to them.
“So, we have been doing a lot already to address this. We are putting in place some data bases and ICT architecture that will capture these data and make them accessible in real time to Interpol and all the member countries of Interpol and it should be up and running within about a month,” he said.
The US had urged Nigeria to begin to issue electronic passports and keep them informed of all the details so that they can tell the genuine and non-genuine ones. The US had also requested Nigeria to share data and information on people with criminal records, suspected terrorists and known terrorists.
Onyeama noted that Nigeria has satisfied most of the requirements, adding that it is also addressing the outstanding issue of lost and stolen passports. “So, we pretty much agreed with them that once we address these issues hopefully in not too distant future we will be removed from these restrictions,” he said.
The Nigerian Immigration Service has also offered their professional proficiency in this regard. They are said to have put in place the architecture and technology to address the outstanding issue in one month.
The move as laudable as it appears has kept Nigerians on their toes even as they await quick resolution the Visa issues.
But reacting to the Visa controversy, former spokesman of the late President Umoru Musa Yar’Adua, Segun Adeniyi, wrote on the almost obsessive desire of Nigerians to always leave the country in droves, blaming it on poor economy.
“One of the challenges of the US visa ban is for us to get our acts together. This is not in order to qualify our citizens to continue to flock to the US that has its own challenges, however attractive the country may seem to some of our citizens.
“Rather, running a serious country ought to be a national imperative and the minimum expectation of every Nigerian. While we need to emphasize the freedom of our people to travel wherever in the world they may choose, we also need to increase the competitiveness of our country to reduce the urge for the kind of mass emigration of some of our brightest citizens witnessed in recent years,” he said.
Also speaking to our correspondent, international relations expert, Dahiru Majeed, said that as much as he does not frown at the idea of people travelling to where ever they may wish, the rush to go to the US and other western countries is because Nigerian leaders have failed to build a competitive economy.
Majeed tasked Nigerian leaders to vigorously use foreign policy and other initiatives “to resuscitate the Nigerian economy and restore its glory.
“Foreign policy should manifest in Nigeria’s outlook in West Africa sub region. Nigeria should use foreign policy to push for a place in oversea investment and negotiate a fairer share of common market in the sub region that will benefit the Nigerian people at home,” he said.
Innocent Odoh (just back from Washington DC)
