The leadership of the House of Representatives is to interface with relevant government agencies and Diplomatic Missions to adopt a diplomatic solution to the controversy that led to the travel ban imposed on Nigeria by the US Government.
This followed the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance on the need to unravel circumstances that led to immigration restriction by the United States of America and seeks quick resolution and prevent future occurrences.
The House also urged the government to expedite necessary actions to reverse the United States restriction on some categories of visas for Nigerians.
Leading the debate on the motion, the sponsor, Tajudeen Yusuf from Kogi State pointed out that Nigeria and four other countries were banned for alleged non-adequate data sharing on public safety and terrorism-related information, necessary for public protection in line with the United States guidelines.
The lawmaker expressed concern that “Due to lackadaisical attitude of some government agencies and officials, Nigeria was unable to meet the deadline to avoid the ban.
It is important to note that the immigration restrictions will have far-reaching multiplier effects on the image of the country and the economy.”
Contributing to the debate, Sergius Ogun from Edo State stressed the need to sanction the agency responsible for the non-compliance with the established identity management and information sharing criteria assessed by performance metrics.
“There should be severe sanctions for those government agencies that are responsible for the ban placed on Nigeria by the United States of America to serve as a deterrent to others.” Mr. Ogun argued.
He also harped on the need for the government to provide necessary health infrastructure that will improve the health sector in the bid to reduce capital flight spent on medical tourism.
