Despite its placement among seven nations on the U.S immigration visa restriction, Nigeria is set to hold Bi-National Commission meeting with the US.
The two-day meeting with the theme, “Mutual Prosperity through Innovation and Ingenuity”, will begin on Monday, February 3 in Washington DC.
Nigeria and the U.S will focus on areas of mutual interest, including good governance and anti-corruption, trade and investment, development and food security and security and counter-terrorism efforts.
The spokesperson to Nigeria’s foreign affairs ministry, Mr. Ferdinand Nwonye, said on Sunday that the Nigeria-U.S. Bi-National Commission (BNC) was established in April 2010 in Washington DC as a platform for closer cooperation.
“The BNC has continued to serve as a veritable mechanism for sustained bilateral high level dialogue to promote and coordinate diplomatic, economic, military, technical, cultural and social cooperation between Nigeria and the U.S.,” Nwonye stated.
The meeting is coming on the heels of the announcement of the temporary travel restrictions on six countries, including Nigeria by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
For Nigeria, the restriction is the suspension of the issuance of “immigrant visas” to Nigerian passport holders only. The suspension shall come into effect on Feb 21.
The suspension does not apply to other US visas such as those for official, business, tourism and student travel.
According to the DHS, the suspension of “immigrant visas” became necessary, following the review and update of the methodology adopted by the U.S Government to assess compliance of certain security criteria by foreign governments.
It stated that this resulted in certain enhancements on how information is shared between Nigeria and the US.
Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has constituted a committee to be chaired by the Minister of Interior, Alhaji Ra’uf Aregbesola, to study the reason why the United State banned Nigerians from its immigration visa.
The committee will work with the U.S Government, INTERPOL and other stakeholders to ensure all updates are properly implemented.
MM/GIK/APA