…Amb. Keshi, ex-envoy to America, says new visa regime ‘would improve corruption within the course of’
•‘Opinions of many international locations don’t favour Nigerians’
By Olayinka Ajayi
Ambassador Joe Keshi is Nigeria’s retired high profession diplomat to the US (US). On this interview, Keshi diagnoses the US discount, final week, of the five-year visa validity for Nigerians to a few months, efficient July 8, 2025, stressing the pressing want for Nigeria to barter and construct a cordial relationship with the US as this implies extra bother for Nigeria’s companies, tech innovators and college students based mostly on the price of visa renewal each three months. Though the US Mission in Nigeria, which introduced the brand new regime, initially gave reciprocity as the rationale for the motion, it later reversed itself, saying it was not a reciprocal motion.
Based on the embassy, the measure additionally has no reference to Nigeria’s stance on accepting deportees from Venezuela, the latest introduction of e-visa insurance policies, or its affiliations with Brazil, Russia, India, China and South-Africa (BRICS), a bunch of 5 rising economies which has expanded into 11 nations and which Nigeria is searching for to hitch. However fairly, it’s “part of an ongoing world evaluation of using US visas by different international locations utilizing technical and safety benchmarks to safeguard US immigration methods.”
“We worth our longstanding partnership with Nigeria and stay dedicated to working intently with the Nigerian public and authorities officers to assist them meet these standards and benchmarks, thereby guaranteeing protected, lawful, and mutually useful journey between our nations,” the embassy wrote in a Friday submit on X.
The Federal Authorities faulted the US motion, with officers suggesting completely different causes however saying the US motion was not justified. The Presidency issued a press release, noting that the declare of reciprocity as the rationale for the visa coverage didn’t precisely mirror the fact of Nigeria’s present visa coverage towards US residents.
The Minister of International Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, for his half, linked the brand new coverage to the rejection of Venezuelan deportees from the US, a declare the nation’s Nigerian Mission denied. The minister mentioned the strain on Nigeria to simply accept Venezuelan deportees is unfair because the nation already has its personal issues.
“It will likely be troublesome for a rustic like Nigeria to simply accept Venezuelan prisoners into Nigeria. We’ve sufficient issues of our personal”, he mentioned throughout a reside program on TV. “We can’t settle for Venezuelan deportees to Nigeria for crying out loud. We have already got 230 million folks. You can be the identical folks that might castigate us if we acquiesce to accepting Venezuelans from US prisons to be introduced in”. In the meantime, the retired diplomat says: “The worst half is that this coverage would improve the corruption within the course of. No embassy, notably in Nigeria, would let you know that there’s no corruption in visa issuance. There’s enormous corruption. So Nigerians pay rather a lot, and with this new coverage, we most likely must pay extra”. Excerpts:
What influence do you foresee the brand new single-entry visa coverage having on Nigerian vacationers and companies with frequent US visits?
Naturally, the coverage goes to have a number of influence, and it’s going to create disruption, notably for enterprise people who find themselves all the time on the transfer. When you think about the tedious strategy of making use of for and getting a US visa, you may apply this month, and they’re going to let you know that the interview is subsequent 12 months. So in case you have an pressing assembly in Washington, United States, it merely means that you may’t go. This is the reason the event could be very unlucky. However in some way, it hurts either side.
But it surely hurts Nigeria greater than it hurts the US as a result of, very often, what number of People come to Nigeria anyway? So Nigeria would bear the burden of this type of coverage. By way of value, it signifies that Nigerians must be paying a lot each three months to journey to the US. Already learn the way a lot Nigerians pay to get visas from these superior international locations. It’s so mind-boggling that these international locations would flip round to lecture us on capital flight via their visa insurance policies.
They’re, really. They’re really contributing to their capital flight each legally and illegally. The worst half is that this coverage would improve the corruption within the course of. No embassy, notably in Nigeria, would let you know that there’s no corruption in visa issuance.
There’s enormous corruption. So Nigerians pay rather a lot, and with this new coverage, we most likely must pay extra. I severely hope that efforts being made by Minister of Inside Olubumi Ojo and the Minister of International Affairs are fruitful and that the US would take heed to our plea and return to the outdated coverage.
How can the Nigerian authorities navigate the worldwide visa reciprocity course of to safe extra beneficial visa phrases with the US?
We’ve to be lifelike about points. On this sport, Nigeria has no probability of successful. The majority of people that go to Nigeria from the US are Nigerians, or you would say Nigerian-People. Some have discovered the way in which to bypass the ‘wahala’ by having Nigerian and American passports. However the fact is, for us to navigate, we’ve got to achieve an settlement with the US as a result of extra Nigerians journey to the US and extra People are travelling to Nigeria.
90 per cent of People that come to Nigeria are Nigerian-People. Whereas in service, I had been urging Nigeria to construct a much more cordial relationship with the US, however we fake to deceive ourselves by saying we’ve got a strategic relationship with the US. We by no means had any strategic relationship with them.
Are you able to examine Nigeria’s significance to the US to that of Egypt or Israel? No, you can’t. However constructing a much more cordial relationship makes extra sense than deceiving ourselves with being extra strategic. So the brand new coverage provides us a chance to guage our relationship with the US and start to see tips on how to construct it up. We wouldn’t have American investments in Nigeria when in comparison with South Africa, which had 6, 000 American firms in South Africa. I don’t know what number of American firms are in Nigeria. Worldwide funding shouldn’t be one-sided. Nigerians within the tech business and college students who wish to go are actually to be constrained by this coverage, which is why each effort must be made to resolve the problem as rapidly as doable.
How can Nigerian residents regulate their journey plans to mitigate the results of the brand new visa coverage?
The most effective adjustment we are able to make is to barter. I gathered there was an settlement on a US five-year visa however that our implementation was poor. Whereas the US started theirs instantly, it took us a while. I feel there’s extra to it.
Coming near it’s the BRICS assembly the place US President Donald Trump vowed to punish these doing enterprise with out utilizing the greenback. Additionally, as People are altering their coverage, the UAE is doing the identical factor. So you start to ask your self if we’re not accountable for all this. We have to discover out what our persons are doing improper that’s warranting this staggering coverage.
What position do you assume safety considerations play within the US’s resolution to implement this new visa coverage for Nigerian residents?
I don’t assume safety considerations performed a job. What number of People come to Nigeria in comparison with the Indians?
Might the coverage replace have an effect on Nigeria’s world repute and relationships with different international locations?
After I was serving in Atlanta a few years in the past, I mentioned to a governor within the northern states that it’s not solely the misbehaviour of Nigerians that creates picture issues for Nigeria; government-owned errors and behavior create extra picture issues for Nigeria. I nonetheless preserve my place on that.
What we should always advocate is that the Nigerian authorities ought to, as a matter of urgency and as a matter of coverage, evaluation all its visa relationships with quite a lot of international locations.
The federal government ought to first focus on with these international locations, notably international locations like England, tips on how to scale back the price of visas. Have you ever ever finished analysis on how a lot Nigerians pay to get visas to quite a lot of these international locations?
Calculate it: if about 20,000 Nigerians get a visa from an embassy, how a lot would an embassy be making in a single 12 months? That’s how a lot Nigeria is dropping to those international locations via the visa evaluation. The visa evaluation of all of the international locations in Nigeria doesn’t favour Nigerians. The annoying factor is these international locations make some huge cash, each from the authorized ones Nigerians pay in addition to the unlawful ones via middlemen.
Are there potential alternatives for Nigeria to diversify its worldwide partnerships and scale back dependence on the US attributable to this coverage change?
In worldwide relations, who’re your pals? In the event you construct 4 blocks, who’re those who could be within the first block? Who’re those who could be within the second block? Who could be within the third block? Contemplating our financial system, the primary block could be crammed by the Asian international locations; there are over 200 Indian firms in Nigeria. Japanese firms are in Nigeria, Korean firms are in Nigeria.
Now, what number of British firms do we’ve got right now in Nigeria? Possibly they supply companies; the place do you place the People? On the flipside, what’s Nigeria itself doing by way of manufacturing? What precisely are we exporting to those international locations that might make us strategic companions by way of commerce past oil? Is it sufficient to make us strategic companions by way of commerce? It’s after we turn out to be extra productive that our forex is strengthened…in any other case all these we’re doing are cosmetics.
In different phrases, we are able to strengthen our forex through manufacturing and our exports, not imports.
It’s what makes China so wealthy right now. The majority of the taxes President Trump ordered had been in opposition to Asian international locations. It’s as a result of they export a number of items to the US. They’re the US’s largest buying and selling companions, however Nigeria doesn’t have that sort of benefit. The underside line is manufacturing on all fronts.
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