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Visa Restriction List: Trump Considers Nigeria, Six Other Countries

Published

6 years ago

January 22, 2020

Eric

United States President, Donald Trump, is set to add Nigeria and six others to a new list of countries on America’s visa restriction, Wall Street Journal reports.

According to the report, Nigerians would not be barred from entering the country but would not be issued with certain types of visas.

The Trump administration plans to roll out its expanded travel restrictions on Monday, marking the three-year anniversary of the initial travel ban Trump signed on his seventh day in office, sparking controversy at the beginning of his term.

Unlike the initial travel ban list of 2017, most of the new countries don’t have majority-Muslim populations. Several of them, however, have had relatively higher rates of their citizens overstaying visas in the US, according to DHS data.

The report reads in part, “The Trump administration plans to add seven countries to a group of nations subject to travel restrictions, including Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, along with others in Africa and Asia, according to administration officials who have seen the list.

“The new restrictions would apply to travellers and immigrants from Belarus, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania. The countries wouldn’t necessarily face blanket bans on travel to the US, but could have restrictions placed on specific types of visas, such as business or visitor visas, administration officials said.”

Nigeria could be on the list because it has a high rate of persons overstaying their visas.

In the 2018 fiscal year, 24 per cent of Eritreans on business or visitor visas overstayed their permits, along with 15 per cent of Nigerians and 12 per cent of people from Sudan. Those compared with a total overstay rate in the category of 1.9 per cent.

According to WSJ, some countries could be banned from participating in the diversity visa lottery program, which awards green cards to people in countries with low levels of immigration to the US.

President Trump has called for an end to that program, saying it lets undesirable people into the US, and he has proposed reorienting the existing visa system toward skilled workers instead.

Nigeria had already been barred from participating from the lottery programme over six years ago.

The officials said the list isn’t final, and on Tuesday the White House was still debating whether to include one or two of the countries.

The Department of Homeland Security didn’t respond to request for comment. The State Department declined to comment.

The administration has said its policy restricting travel is necessary to prevent potential acts of terrorism, as countries on the list don’t adequately vet their travellers to the US.

The first order, which banned travel to the US by most residents of seven majority-Muslim countries, was struck down by a federal court and withdrawn. A second iteration of the ban, issued in March 2017, was also struck down by a federal judge who said it still amounted to religious discrimination against Muslims.

A third version of the policy, issued in September 2017, was upheld by a divided Supreme Court in a 5-4 ruling in June 2018 on the grounds that federal law gives the president broad authority to suspend entry to the US

Those current restrictions blocked travel by individuals from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and North Korea, and by political officials from Venezuela. The administration briefly included Chad on the ban list, but removed the country in April 2018.

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Tinubu Nominates Oyedele As Minister of State for Finance, Moves Anite-Uzoka to Budget Ministry

Published

1 day ago

March 3, 2026

Eric

A statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy Bayo Onanuga, has announced that “President Bola Tinubu has nominated Taiwo Oyedele as the minister of state for finance, replacing Doris Anite-Uzoka.

“Mrs Anite-Uzoka will now move to the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, as the Minister of State, her third portfolio in the administration.

“President Tinubu has today conveyed the nomination of Mr Oyedele to the Senate for confirmation in a letter to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.

“Until President Tinubu nominated him as a minister, Mr Oyedele from Ikaram, Akoko, Ondo State, was the chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, which overhauled Nigeria’s tax system.

“Mr Oyedele, 50, is an economist, accountant and public policy expert.

“He attended Yaba College of Technology, where he obtained a Higher National Diploma (HND) in accountancy and finance. He attended Oxford Brookes University and earned a BSc in applied accounting.

“He also completed executive education programmes at the London School of Economics, Yale University, the Gordon Institute of Business Science, and the Harvard Kennedy School.

“Mr Oyedele spent 22 years of his working career at PwC, joining in 2001 and rising to become the Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader.

“Mr Oyedele is also a professor at Babcock University in Ogun State and a visiting scholar at the Lagos Business School.”

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Defection: Atiku’s Son, Adamu, Resigns As Adamawa Commissioner

Published

2 days ago

March 3, 2026

Eric

Adamu Abubakar, the first son of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, has resigned as Adamawa State’s commissioner for works and energy development, days after Governor Ahmadu Fintiri defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.

Abubakar’s resignation letter, dated 2 March 2026, was addressed to the governor through the Secretary to the State Government. He gave no reason for his departure.

The timing is pointed. Fintiri announced his defection to the APC in a statewide broadcast last Friday, saying his cabinet and the PDP’s state structure had moved with him. Within 24 hours, 22 commissioners and special advisers publicly announced they were following suit. Abubakar, whose father remains one of the PDP’s most prominent national figures, was not among them.

In a statement issued Monday night, Abubakar’s media aide Abdulaziz Jauro said the former commissioner thanked the governor for the opportunity to serve and pledged continued loyalty to the administration’s developmental agenda. He also expressed gratitude to his father “for granting him the moral support and blessing to serve the people of Adamawa State” — a line that, read in context, suggests Atiku was consulted on the decision.

Abubakar said his resignation was not a withdrawal from public life. “This does not mark the end of his commitment to public service,” the statement read, “but rather the beginning of new avenues for developmental collaboration.”

The resignation leaves unresolved the question of whether it reflects a political break with the governor over his defection or a personal decision unconnected to the broader party realignment now reshaping Adamawa’s political landscape.

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DSS Nabs Man over Assassination Attempt on Peter Obi

Published

2 days ago

March 3, 2026

Eric

Nigeria’s Department of State Services (DSS) has detained a man in connection with the recent attack and alleged assassination threats targeting Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi.

According to AIT, the shooting incident took place on February 24, 2026, in Benin City, Edo State, during a political gathering attended by Obi and several figures from the African Democratic Congress (ADC). The meeting was hosted by former APC National Chairman, John Oyegun. Gunmen reportedly opened fire at the venue, causing panic and forcing attendees to disperse for safety.

According to security sources, shortly after the attack, an individual identified as Udeme Monday Stephen allegedly took to social media claiming responsibility and issuing additional threats against Obi, warning of further violence.

Intelligence officials reportedly initiated swift investigations, employing digital tracing and forensic tools that led to the arrest of the 26-year-old suspect in Rivers State. He is said to be a teacher at a private secondary school in the Eliozu area of Obio-Akpor Local Government Area.

The suspect remains in DSS custody and is expected to face prosecution. The agency reiterated its commitment to responding to credible threats and safeguarding lives and national interests without bias.