The United States government highlighted reasons it imposed visa restrictions on Nigerians and nationals of five other countries.
This was contained in the full report of the visa restrictions titled, ‘Proclamation on improving enhanced vetting capabilities and process’ published on www.whitehouse.gov
This is coming after the U.S Congress make moves to nullify the ban list, as it claims it is a discriminatory act against restricted countries.
The US government disclosed that Nigeria did not comply with the established identity-management and information-sharing criteria assessed by the performance metrics.
It also revealed that all foreign governments affected including Nigeria were informed about the identity-management and information-sharing criteria in 2019.
The report reads;
The process began on March 11, 2019, when the United States Government formally notified all foreign governments (except for Iran, Syria, and North Korea) about the refined performance metrics for the identity-management and information-sharing criteria.
Nigeria, according to the U.S government, did not adequately share public-safety and terrorism-related information necessary for the protection of the national security and public safety of the US.
The report reads;
Nigeria also presents a high risk, relative to other countries in the world, of terrorist travel to the United States. Nigeria is an important strategic partner in the global fight against terrorism, and the United States continues to engage with Nigeria on these and other issues
The Department of State has provided significant assistance to Nigeria as it modernizes its border management capabilities, and the Government of Nigeria recognizes the importance of improving its information sharing with the United States.
It added that investments in Nigeria have not yet resulted in sufficient improvements in the country’s information sharing with the United States for border and immigration screening and vetting.
The government noted that the Republic of Chad improved on the performance metrics and was removed from consideration for travel restrictions.
The US in the report also described Nigeria as one of the worst-performing countries on the performance metrics which it said led to the imposition of migrant visa restriction on the country.
The new visa regime announced by the US Government on January 31, involves the suspension of the issuance of ‘immigrant visas’ to Nigerian passport holders.
Apart from Nigeria, others on the list are Eritrea, Myanmar, Tanzania, Sudan and Kyrgyzstan.
The suspension of immigrant visa is to take effect from February 21.