Reviews of many countries do not favour Nigerians
Ambassador Joe Keshi is Nigerias retired top career diplomat to the United States US. In this interview, Keshi diagnoses the US reduction, last week, of the five-year visa validity for Nigerians to three months, effective July 8, 2025, stressing the urgent need for Nigeria to negotiate and build a cordial relationship with the US as this means more trouble for Nigerias businesses, tech innovators and students based on the cost of visa renewal every three months. Although the US Mission in Nigeria, which announced the new regime, initially gave reciprocity as the reason for the action, it later reversed itself, saying it was not a reciprocal action.
According to the embassy, the measure also has no connection with Nigerias stance on accepting deportees from Venezuela, the recent introduction of e-visa policies, or its affiliations with Brazil, Russia, India, China and South-Africa BRICS, a group of five emerging economies which has expanded into 11 nations and which Nigeria is seeking to join. But rather, it is a part of an ongoing global review of the use of US visas by other countries using technical and security benchmarks to safeguard US immigration systems.