As soon as the official announcement came through last week that the United States will be banning immigrant visa issuance to the United States from February 21, suspicion began to filter in that the ban was due to racism by the U.S president, Donald J. Trump.
However, some pundits who were at least analytical began to consider alternative arguments as to the root cause of the embarrassing development.
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The reaction that first got to the Nigerian public was a media release by the presidency that the visa ban is acknowledged and that the issues raised by the U.S per the security clearance issues on the Nigerian International Passport documentation would be looked into as soon as possible.
To further debunk the racism argument preferred by a few who like to play victim in this instance was when a report of the countries which were being rescreened for security clearance update on international travel and to update their immigration data with Interpol standard requirements showed up on the U.S Department of Homeland Security (DHS) website. Details reflected that Nigeria was among a host of countries which was requested to upgrade these security criteria since March 2019 but the bureaucracy and laxity of the presidency left the matter unattended to until the date of the ban.
Evidence showed that Chad was one of the countries listed for possible visa ban but as Chad was pragmatic enough in upgrading to the security requirement demanded by the U.S, it was crossed out of the ban list.
Also during the week, reports indicated that the Chinese embassy in Nigeria would no longer be issuing visas from Nigeria to China for the time being. Reasons given were listed as due to the Coronavirus epidemic currently in China and some parts of the world. But why was Nigeria alone singled out of all her neighbours for this visa ban if not for the Chinese government’s loss of confidence in how effectively the Nigerian Foreign Office could handle any case of the virus getting into Nigeria. Basically, China helped us to protect ourselves with that visa suspension.
There is a stage where the anyhowness and incompetent bureaucracy of a government will begin to spread beyond the country’s shores and get exported as part of a bad reputation. If Nigerians look inward sincerely, that is the point where things are with the country with this recent swig of visa suspensions. Simply, the incompetence of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration in handling important internal affairs is now beginning to spread into Nigeria’s relation with other foreign countries.
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And if things are not quickly turned around and amendments made, Nigeria may soon find itself isolated and left to drift away like an empty island which bears no good tiding for its surrounding and far away neighbours.
As the largest black nation on earth, the Nigerian nation should not find itself dosing off on the turf only to be reminded of how great it once was in the comity of nations. We as Nigerians too should not be caught dead lazyng away and languishing in our individual comfort zones. This is the time to band up and demand for optimal governance from this government for our nation to be as revered as it was once was and for Nigerians, home and abroad, to not be the butt of the jokes of others who once looked up to us.
Sources:
Legit NG
Punch NG
Featured Image Source: Pulse NG
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