The President of the United States, Donald Trump has said that his administration is adding more countries, which Nigeria is said to be among, to its travel ban list to keep America safe.
Speaking at a news conference at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland on Wednesday, Trump said the expansion which will be announced “very shortly” follows happenings around the world.
Although the US president was silent on the affected countries, the list is said to include Nigeria and six others.
“You see what’s going on in the world, our country has to be safe,” the BBC quoted him as saying. “We’re adding a couple of countries….we have to be safe.”
Further look into the matter seem to show that the Trump administration might not place full visa bans on the affected countries.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the restriction may be limited to certain types of visas like the business or visitor visa popularly referred to as B1/B2 visa type.
Trump issued the first travel ban titled “Enhancing Vetting Capabilities and Processes for Detecting Attempted Entry into the United States by Terrorists or other Public-Safety Threats”, which affected seven countries with a Muslim majority – weeks after he assumed office in January 2017.
Barely three months later, he expanded the list of countries affected and even widened it further in September 2017.
Most Nigerians might wonder why the US government would want to put Nigeria on Travel ban. It is important to note that the Trump administration considers different factors before adding a country to the travel ban list.
Among other things, it considers whether countries of concern adequately screen travellers to prevent potential acts of terrorism.
Wall Street Journal reports that the latest countries affected have a “relatively higher rate of their citizens overstaying visas in the US.”
