Tuggar: Nigeria Won’t Be Dumping Ground for Venezuelan Prisoners from US
Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, says the country will not serve as a dumping ground for Venezuelan prisoners deported from the United States.
Speaking during an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today on Thursday, Tuggar dismissed reports of US pressure on African nations to accept Venezuelan deportees, some of whom are ex-convicts. He insisted Nigeria would not bow to such demands.
“It would be difficult for countries like Nigeria to accept Venezuelan prisoners into Nigeria,” Tuggar said. “We have enough problems of our own; we cannot accept Venezuelan deportees to Nigeria. We already have 230 million people.”
The minister’s remarks follow a report by TheCable that Nigeria’s refusal to accept asylum seekers from the US was part of the reason former President Donald Trump imposed visa restrictions on the country. While claims circulated that Nigeria had stopped issuing five-year visas to Americans — reportedly contributing to the sanctions — those assertions have been debunked.
Tuggar clarified the current visa policy: “Our visa is not saying that every American is only being given a 90-day visa or three months or whatever. We give Americans and loads of Americans these long-term visas.”
He added that Nigeria now offers electronic visas for efficiency: “The same way I am talking to you on my laptop, I can just simply apply for a Nigerian visa and you get it and then you fly, and so it makes it easier.”
Tuggar emphasised Nigeria’s ongoing diplomatic engagement with the US but maintained that the country would not accept deportees under Trump’s migrant crackdown.
