The European Union may toe the line of its ally, the United States government as it threatened to impose restrictive visa implementation rules on Nigeria, NewsOne Nigeria understands.
NewsOne Nigeria reports that Ms Virginie Battu-Henriksson, the EU Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, who raised the threat said that Visa restriction will go through if the Nigerian government fails to play its part in the return and readmission of its nationals staying illegally in the EU.
The EU, which comprises Germany, Italy, Spain, France, and 23 other countries, further stated that although it would not place a visa ban on Nigeria, it could make its visas more difficult for Nigerian applicants if Nigeria failed to meet its standards.
When quizzed if the EU had challenges Nigeria was trying to resolve with the US, she said, “Nigerians still place among the top 10 nationalities detected as staying irregularly on the EU territory, although the number of Nigerians entering the EU irregularly declined drastically last year.
“Nigerian criminal networks remain active in Europe, and Nigeria remains the main non-EU country of origin for victims of trafficking (mainly women) registered in the EU.”
Battu-Henriksson stated that if Nigeria does not play its part in the readmission of its citizens living illegally in the EU, the union could adapt the rules on processing short-stay visa applications.
“Under the new rules, the EU Commission will regularly assess the level of cooperation of non-EU countries on the readmission of irregular migrants. If the level of cooperation is insufficient, the commission, together with member states, can decide on a temporary more restrictive implementation of certain provisions of the visa code,” the EU spokesperson said.
Responding, Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it had not received any official notice from the EU that it was considering Nigeria for visa restriction rules.
Ferdinand Nwonye, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Spokesperson, told The PUNCH that, “We had European Union-Nigeria dialogue on Tuesday and the matter was not brought up. It was not brought up at all.
“Be that as it may, it has not come to us officially. And you know definitely that anybody who has a visa and the visa expired based on the conditions of the issuance, the person is expected to come back or renew his stay there.”
This online news platform recalls that the United States of America (USA) led by President Donald Trump had issued a restriction preventing Nigerians, as well as nationals of five other countries, from emigrating to the US.
President Trump’s US claimed that Nigeria does not comply with its minimum security standards or cooperate to prevent illegal immigration.
The United States considered Nigeria as presenting a high risk of terrorist travel to the US.
