By Ayo Kehinde
The Federal Government has suggested that the recent reduction in U.S. visa validity for Nigerians may be linked to Nigeria’s refusal to accept deported Venezuelan prisoners and illegal immigrants from the United States.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, made the disclosure on Thursday while speaking on Politics Today, a programme aired on Channels Television.
Effective July 8, 2025, most non-diplomatic, non-immigrant visas issued to Nigerian citizens will be limited to single entry and valid for only three months.
According to a statement by the U.S. Department of State, the decision is part of a global policy update affecting multiple countries and is intended to align visa issuance with U.S. national security and immigration protocols.
However, Tuggar revealed that the move may have geopolitical undertones, claiming that the United States, under former President Donald Trump’s administration, had pressured several African countries—including Nigeria—to receive deported Venezuelan nationals, some of whom were released from U.S. prisons.
Tuggar said: “The U.S. is mounting considerable pressure on African countries to accept Venezuelans to be deported from the U.S., some straight out of prisons.
“It will be difficult for Nigeria to accept Venezuelan prisoners.”
He emphasised that Nigeria cannot serve as a dumping ground for foreign convicts, especially given its own domestic challenges.
“We have enough problems of our own. We cannot accept Venezuelan deportees to Nigeria, for crying out loud. We already have 230 million people,” he said.
The minister’s remarks come amid growing speculation that the U.S. visa restriction may be a form of diplomatic retaliation for Nigeria’s participation in the 2025 BRICS summit—an international economic bloc increasingly seen as a counterweight to Western alliances.
While dismissing the BRICS-related narrative as too simplistic, Tuggar suggested that Nigeria’s unwillingness to comply with U.S. demands regarding the deportation of Venezuelans may be a more plausible explanation for Washington’s decision.
