Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, has revealed that the United States is pressuring African countries, including Nigeria, to accept deported Venezuelans, some of whom are prisoners.
He firmly stated that Nigeria is not in a position to comply with such a request.
Speaking during a live appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, Tuggar dismissed the suggestion that recent U.S. tariffs and visa restrictions on Nigeria are connected to President Bola Tinubu’s participation in the BRICS summit in Brazil.
“The issue of tariffs may not necessarily have to do with us participating in BRICS,” Tuggar clarified.
On the push for deportee acceptance, the minister was unequivocal, “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.”
His comments come days after U.S. President Donald Trump met with leaders of Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, and Senegal at the White House excluding President Tinubu and subsequently announced a 10 per cent tariff on Nigerian goods.
Many observers had speculated the move was linked to Tinubu’s recent engagement with BRICS nations.
On this, Tuggar maintained that the tariff hike and visa restrictions, including a new U.S. visa policy limiting Nigerians to single-entry visas valid for just three months, may not be linked to BRICS involvement.
Addressing the deportation request further, he warned that accepting such deportees could set a dangerous precedent.
“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,” he said.
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Tuggar also pushed back against claims from the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria that the new visa restrictions were based on reciprocity.
“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,” he said.
Explaining Nigeria’s policy, he added, “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.”
He further clarified that while some American applicants may receive 90-day tourist visas, it is not a blanket policy.
“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.
“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,” Tuggar stated.