The proclamation signed by President Donald Trump as Executive Order 13780 blocking Nigeria and five other countries from obtaining certain types of visas is expected to take effect on February 22. Assistant Editor Bola Olajuwon speaks with experts on the way out of the ban.

THE United States (U.S.) Department of Homeland Security (DHS) last week announced a temporary travel restriction on six countries, including Nigeria, thus raising concerns among the citizenry and foreign affairs commentators.

The proclamation, signed by President Donald Trump as Executive Order 13780, is expected to take effect on February 22. Nigeria and other affected countries – Eritrea, Sudan, Tanzania, Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar – will now be blocked from obtaining certain types of visas. In the case of Nigeria, the U.S. ban issuance of immigration visas

In 2018, the U.S. issued twice as many immigration visas to Nigerians than to the other five nations combined. It issued more than 8,000 immigration visas to Nigerians.

That same year, just over 2,000 were issued to Sudanese nationals, 290 to Tanzanians, and just 31 to Eritreans. An official said the new measures were the result of failures by the six countries to meet U.S. security and information-sharing standards.

“These countries, for the most part, want to be helpful but for a variety of different reasons simply failed to meet those minimum requirements that we laid out,” acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf told reporters.

He said officials would work with the affected countries on bolstering their security requirements to help them get off the list.

Trump first introduced a travel ban in 2017. It first closed U.S. borders to citizens from seven countries, most of them with Muslim majorities. The number of countries now on the restricted travel list stands at 13.

Presidential committee to the rescue

President Muhammadu Buhari has established a committee to study and address the updated requirements by the U.S. government.

In a statement signed by Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity on February 1, the committee, to be chaired by the Minister of Interior, will work with the U.S government, INTERPOL, and other stakeholders to ensure all updates are properly implemented.

Experts to Fed Govt: address U.S. immigration visa concerns

One-time Nigerian Institute of Foreign Affairs (NIIA) Director-General, Prof. Bola Akinterinwa, who was reacting to the ban in an interview with The Nation, urged Buhari to discuss the issue of immigration visa ban directly with Trump, who signed the order.

Akinterinwa said it would be a waste of time for the issue to feature on the agenda of the U.S-Nigeria Bi-national Commission, which concluded a few days ago.

He queried why Foreign Affairs Minister Geoffrey Onyeama and not the President or his deputy should head the bi-national meeting.

The former NIIA DG said: “It is appropriate at the level of the U.S. Government to issue the immigration visa ban. Every sovereign state has the right to self-protection and territorial security.

“It (the U.S.) wants the Federal Government to provide adequate information on those – terrorists or people with a history of terrorism – applying for immigration visas and not other classes of visas.

They want the Nigerian government to provide adequate information on the immigrant visa – it is not on a business visa or tourist visa. U.S. concern is on landed visa.

The American government does not want a situation where a potential terrorist or people with a history of terrorism will enter its territory.

“In this case, nobody can blame the U.S. for taking the action it took. What prevented Nigeria from addressing the issues raised by the U.S before President Trump issued the proclamation?

“Nigeria’s foreign policy has always been reactive and nor pragmatic. It promotes no concreate national interest. Nigeria needs a foreign policy of grandeur.”

He urged the presidency to investigate why the diplomatic medium of communication, which is through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, refused to communicate the U.S. government’s concerns to the President and other authorities.

Akinterinwa said: “The Foreign Ministry should be held responsible for not communicating to the president and others concerned. In this case, the U.S. has the right to take any action if the Federal Government is not responding to its request.”

He noted that the setting up of a committee to fix the security lapses that led to a U.S. curb on immigration “is a waste of time”.

“By setting up the committee, Nigeria has accepted guilt and inefficiency. What will the committee do? It is a waste of time?” he said.

Also, former Ambassador of Nigeria to France Ambassador Akin O. Fayomi and an industrial security consultant and public affairs analyst, Col. Ola Majoyeogbe (retd), urged the Federal Government to address concerns raised by the United States (U.S.) while issuing immigration visa ban.

Fayomi, in an interview with The Nation, said the ban on immigration visa by the U.S. is the prerogative of the country, adding that it’s the fundamental right of any sovereign nation to determine who enters its territory and for what purpose.

“However, the Americans have given us their reasons for banning Nigeria and six other countries, in addition to the previous seven countries that were initially banned in 2017.

The reasons include ‘identified deficiencies that create vulnerabilities that terrorists, criminals and fraudulent actors could exploit to harm U.S. national security and public safety”, to paraphrase the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“That said, it is an embarrassment for us to be grouped together with countries like Sudan, Eritrea, etc. What is also galling is the fact that we saw this coming.

We are told that for the past year or two, the American government has implored our officials to take concrete steps to address the challenges in sharing terrorist, criminal or identity information.

Furthermore, the ease by which foreigners can obtain a Nigerian passport is alarming, particularly with the influx of people with questionable characters coming from the Sahel region,” the former Africa Union Commission Special Representative to Liberia said.

On steps Nigeria should take, he said: “How I wish that we are proactive. We had plenty of steps we should have taken, but as usual, we are now running from pillar to post to mitigate the effects of the ban.

From all indications, the issues I mentioned above have all been under discussion prior to the ban. Our usual lethargic actions or non-actions spurred the U.S to take its own action.

Thankfully, Mr. President has risen to the occasion by establishing a committee to look into all the ramifications and to cooperate with the Americans with a view to getting us out of the logjam.

“I believe that all the concerns should have been addressed at the prior Binational Commission meetings. I happened to have been on the Nigerian delegation to the BNC a couple of times some years ago, and I know that virtually all aspects of our bilateral relationship are tabled and discussed.

Solutions are always found in a very amicable manner. I hope the opportunity of this year’s meeting will be used to address the immigration concerns of the U.S., and the attendant ramifications for Nigeria and Nigerians.”

Majoyeogbe, who said the controversy generated was needless, noted that the U.S. Government was right in placing the ban on Nigeria.

The security consultants said: “First, it (the U.S.) does not owe the government and people of the affected nations any explanation. Everyone knows that the U.S. is a truly independent nation.

The U.S. Presidents love their country like the majority of the citizens truly love their country. This is unlike many Presidents and Heads of Governments, whose interests do no coincide with the national interests of their nations.

“With specific reference to the visa ban, Nigeria and the other nations affected have not met the standards required by the U.S. So, if they wish to have the ban lifted, they should meet the required standards or remain in their ban.

“Let us not forget that Trump promised to ‘Make America great again!’ He is a patriotic American. One way of doing this is by keeping out nationals of nations who refused to meet the criteria set by the U.S. on sensitive issues.”

Ray of hope?

Onyeama has expressed optimism that the U.S. might lift the visa ban on Nigeria in a month’s time. He stated this on the sidelines of the fifth Nigeria-United States Bi-National Commission (BNC) in Washington D.C., United States.

He said the U.S. was apprehensive over the variations of Nigerian data system and third party involvement in the management of the passport system, particularly information and data on lost and stolen passports.

According to him, after deliberations on the visa ban, the U.S. government had assured Nigeria that it was possible to lift the ban if the Federal Government could resolve issues raised in one month.

Onyema said, after the ban, Buhari had inaugurated a committee to resolves the issues that led to the ban on immigrant visas to Nigerians.

He said, in line with the presidential directive, the Nigerian government had taken steps to address the issues raised by the U.S.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, while meeting Onyeama, said Trump took the action partly due to the “terrorist threat” in West Africa, where Nigeria has fought alongside the United States against Islamist extremists.

Pompeo said Nigeria remains a “strategic partner” but Trump restricted visas as it has “room to grow in sharing important national security information.”

“I’m optimistic that’s going to happen,” Pompeo told reporters.

Onyeama said his talks were “very gratifying” but acknowledged, with a smile, that Trump’s move caught Nigeria off-guard. “We were somewhat blindsided by the announcement of the visa restrictions,” Onyeama said.

He said Nigeria had already been looking to address US concerns, such as providing information on suspected terrorists and embedding electronic data into passports. “We know, and the US officials have also confirmed, that we have been able to tick most of those boxes,” he said.

One month is almost around the corner and experts hope the Federal Government will address the U.S concerns and the latter will lift the ban.