Nigeria has firmly rejected any plan to accept Venezuelan deportees from the United States. Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Tuggar made this clear on Thursday during an interview on Politics Today on Channels TV.
He reacted to reports suggesting that the US government is pressuring some African countries, including Nigeria, to accept deported Venezuelans, some of whom are convicts.
Tuggar described the idea as unacceptable.
“It would be difficult for countries like Nigeria to accept Venezuelan prisoners into Nigeria,” he said.
Nigeria, Tuggar argued, is already stretched by its own population and challenges.
“We have enough problems of our own; we cannot accept Venezuelan deportees to Nigeria. We already have 230 million people,” he stated.
The minister’s position came amid speculation that Nigeria’s refusal to take in US deportees may have contributed to the previous visa restrictions imposed on Nigeria by then-US President Donald Trump.
What Really Happened with US Visa Ban
While some reports claimed that Nigeria stopped issuing five-year visas to Americans—triggering the visa spat—Tuggar said those claims were false.
“What Nigeria has done that differs is simple,” he explained. “We used to have 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.”
Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is now in discussions with the United States to resolve misunderstandings around the visa policy. But Tuggar stood his ground on the matter of deportees.
He warned that Nigeria must never become a dumping ground for foreign inmates under the excuse of immigration enforcement.
No Room for Prisoners in a Country Already Overstretched
The US crackdown on undocumented migrants, especially under Trump, has included proposals to send deportees to third countries. But Nigeria insists such an arrangement is unfair.
“We cannot and will not absorb the fallout of US domestic immigration policy,” Tuggar’s comments suggested.
He asked the United States to rethink its approach and honour the principles of mutual respect, global cooperation, and shared responsibility.
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Why will talks be still ongoing? It should be an outright rejection, no negotiation. Well, I don’t trust both our leaders and the American government.