Nigeria asks US to scrap visa ban

Nigeria’s Interior Minister Ogbeni Aregbesola has asked the US to reverse its new visa restrictions on Nigerians.

US visa restrictions for citizens of Nigeria, Myanmar, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Sudan and Tanzania came into force on Friday.

Citizens from these countries will be suspended from US visas that can lead to permanent residency.

"Nigeria is too important an ally of America to deserve such a sanction,” Aregbesola is quoted by Reuters news agency as saying in the statement.

The Vanguard newspaper added that he made the plea while the US ambassador to Nigeria visited him on Wednesday, a visit that he had tweeted:

The reason given for the ban was that the countries failed to meet US security and information-sharing standards.