Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar says his country has “enough problems” and can’t take in foreigners straight out of American prisons
Nigeria will not yield to pressure from the administration of US President Donald Trump to accept Venezuelan deportees, Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar has declared.
The senior diplomat told Nigeria’s Channels TV on Thursday that Washington’s recent visa restrictions and tariff hikes are not reciprocal moves but coercive measures.
“You have to also bear in mind that the US is mounting considerable pressure on African countries to accept Venezuelans to be deported from the US, some straight out of prisons,” Tuggar said.
He added that, “It would be difficult for countries like Nigeria to accept Venezuelan prisoners. We have enough problems of our own. We already have 230 million people.”
On Tuesday, the US Department of State announced changes to its “reciprocal non-immigrant visa policy,” slashing the duration and tightening the conditions for entry into America for most travelers from countries including Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Nigeria.
“Effective immediately, most non-immigrant and non-diplomatic visas issued to citizens of Nigeria will be single-entry visas with a three-month validity period,” according to a statement published by Washington’s mission in Africa’s most populous country.
Trump also doubled down on his tariff threats during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, warning that any country “aligned” with “anti-American policies” through BRICS would face levies. He said members of the economic bloc could pay an additional 10% on goods exported to the US.
Nigeria, along with Uganda and seven other countries outside Africa, became a BRICS partner state in January 2025. Nigerian President Bola Tinubu attended the BRICS two-day summit in Brazil on July 6-7.
On Trump’s tariff threats, Tuggar remarked that they “may not necessarily have to do with” the country’s participation in the BRICS meeting.
The minister, however, said Abuja has begun negotiations with Washington over the latest visa curbs targeting Nigerian nationals.
Since returning to office in January, Trump has reinstated a series of hardline immigration measures, including the expedited removal of migrants deemed unfit to remain in the US to third countries.
Last week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it had deported eight “barbaric criminal illegal aliens” to South Sudan. Earlier in April, the Trump administration revoked all visas issued to South Sudanese passport holders, accusing the landlocked nation of refusing to accept deported nationals. The conflict-torn African country denied the allegation, saying the White House acted based on an “isolated incident” involving an individual who, according to Juba, was not a South Sudanese national.
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