By Henry Odeh
The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has disclosed that the federal government may reciprocate the visa restriction imposed on its citizens by the United States and other countries.
This Comptroller-General of NIS, Mohammed Babandede made the statement when reacting to the inclusion of Nigeria by the USA to its list of countries with visa restrictions.
According to The Cable, the immigration boss told The Signature50 magazine in an interview that the new visa policy launched by President Muhammadu Buhari earlier in the year is reciprocal in nature.
Babandede said Nigeria has the right to determine who it allows in or restricts entry from.
He said like the US, Nigeria has the right to dictate who it allows in or restricts entry from.
“I can tell you that US is a country, it is a nation like Nigeria.
“They have the right to restrict who will enter their territory or not just like we can restrict US citizen or whomsoever from entering Nigeria,”
Babandede said.
He explained that visa restriction is not the same as a visa ban, noting that a ban applies to people who want to take residency not people who want to go for short visits.
“So, we will test this for a year and see those who reciprocate and we take actions for those who do otherwise,” he said.
Meanwhile, a news report from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) indicates that 370 Nigerians were ordered to leave the United States this year, after being found guilty of breaking immigration laws and other crimes.
