Buhari reacts to US visa ban, sets up committee

President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday, reacted to the suspension of the issuance of ‘immigrant visas to Nigerians by the United States Government.

A state house statement revealed that a committee has been set up to look into the matter with a view to meeting the requirements of the new US’ policy on visa issuance, The statement equally said the committee is chaired by the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola

The statement signed by Buhari’s media aide, Mr Femi Adesina, said, “The committee will work with the US Government, INTERPOL and other stakeholders to ensure all updates are properly implemented.

Recall that the US recently named Nigeria among six other countries to be affected by the new policy, other countries include Eritrea, Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan

However, the Presidency noted that the restriction did not affect other categories of visas like official, tourism or business visas.

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The new visa regime announced by the US’ Government on January 31, comes into effect on February 21.

The Presidency’s reaction to the development read, “On January 31, 2020, the United States Department of Homeland Security 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 February 21, 2020. The suspension does not apply to other U.S visas such as those for official, business, tourism and student travel.

The DHS states the suspension of “immigrant visas” became necessary following a review and update of the methodology (performance metrics) adopted by the US Government to assess compliance of certain security criteria by foreign governments