By Abiola Olawale
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, has offered explanations as to why there is growing diplomatic tension between Nigeria and the United States of America.
Ambassador Tuggar revealed that the diplomatic disagreements between the two countries are escalating because of Nigeria’s refusal to accept Venezuelan deportees, including ex-prisoners, from the United States.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, the Minister revealed that this is the main reason the administration of President Donald Trump is allegedly retaliating with steep tariffs and a drastic reduction in visa validity for Nigerians.
Tuggar also mainatined that an additional 10 per cent tariffs imposed on Nigeria by the Trump’s administration has no connection with President Bola Tinubu’s participation at the recent meeting with the BRICS nations.
He said: “The issue of tariffs may not necessarily have to do with us participating in BRICS.
“You have to also bear in mind that the U.S. is mounting considerable pressure on African countries to accept Venezuelans to be deported from the U.S., 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 who would castigate us if we acquiesce to accepting Venezuelans from U.S. prisons to be brought in.
“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.”
On the new U.S. visa policy, the Minister insisted that the claim by the U.S. that the development was based on reciprocity was not correct
“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.
“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.
“We have different categories of visas. Some people are first-time travelers who are coming as tourists who are probably not likely to come back to Nigeria again, maybe because they’re coming for a short while, and they get those 90-day visas.
“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, who have these long-term visas. It is not based on reciprocity,” the minister added.
This development comes after the US Department of State recently announced a reduction in visa validity for Nigerians, cutting non-immigrant visas to single-entry, with a validity of just three-month terms.
Consequently, the decision which came into effect on July 8, 2025, limits visas such as B1/B2 (business/tourism), F (students), and J (exchange visitors) to three months, a sharp departure from the previous two-year, multiple-entry policy.
