U.S. visas ban: Buhari constitutes committee to unveil cause

A committee that will study the reason why the United State banned Nigerians from its immigration visa has been constituted by President Buhari.

According to a statement by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, in Abuja on Saturday, the committee is to work with the U.S Government, INTERPOL and other stakeholders to ensure all updates are properly implemented.

The president further charged the committee to look at the real reason President Donald Trump banned Nigerians from US immigration visa.

He reiterated the commitment of Nigeria towards maintaining productive relations with the United States and its international allies especially on matters of global security.

The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Jan. 31 announced temporary travel restrictions on six countries including Nigeria.

For Nigeria, the restriction is the suspension of the issuance of “immigrant visas” to Nigerian passport holders only. This suspension shall come into effect on Feb 21. The suspension does not apply to other U.S visas such as those for official, business, tourism and student travel.

According to the DHS, the suspension of “immigrant visas” became necessary following a review and update of the methodology adopted by the U.S Government to assess compliance of certain security criteria by foreign governments.

It stated that this resulted in certain enhancements on how information is shared between Nigeria and the U.S.

The committee is to be chaired by the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola.