As millions of people continue to react to the visa ban on Nigerians by the United State Government, the Fifth Session of the Nigeria/United States of America Bi-National Commission will kicks off today in Washington, D.C., with the ban expected to top the agenda of the meeting.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, would lead the Nigerian delegation to the meeting with the theme, ‘Mutual Prosperity through Innovation and Ingenuity.’
Deliberations at the session will focus on areas of mutual interest, including good governance and anti-corruption; trade and investment; development and food security; and security and counter-terrorism efforts.
The spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ferdinand Nwonye, in a statement, at the weekend, said the BNC had continued to serve as a veritable mechanism for sustained bilateral high-level dialogue to promote and coordinate diplomatic, economic, military, technical cultural and social cooperation between Nigeria and the United States.
The Nigeria-US Bi-National Commission was established in April, 2010, in Washington, D.C. as a platform for closer cooperation between both countries.
It would be recalled that the presidential action, titled, “Proclamation on Improving Enhanced Vetting Capabilities and Processes for Detecting Attempted Entry”, signed by President Donald Trump, had read, “Now, therefore, I, Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1182(f) and 1185(a), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, hereby find that, absent the measures set forth in this proclamation, the immigrant entry into the United States of persons described in section 1 of this proclamation would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, and that their entry should be subject to certain restrictions, limitations, and exceptions.
“I, therefore, hereby proclaim the following: Section 1 Suspension of Entry for Nationals of Countries of Identified Concern. The entry into the United States of nationals of the following countries is hereby suspended and limited, as follows, subject to section 2 of this proclamation.
“(a) The entry suspensions and limitations enacted by section 2 of Proclamation 9645 are not altered by this proclamation, and they remain in force by their terms, except as modified by Proclamation 9723.
(e) Nigeria (i) Nigeria does not comply with the established identity-management and information-sharing criteria assessed by the performance metrics. Nigeria does not adequately share public-safety and terrorism-related information, which is necessary for the protection of the national security and public safety of the United States.
“Nigeria also presents a high risk, relative to other countries in the world, of terrorist travel to the United States. Nigeria is an important strategic partner in the global fight against terrorism, and the United States continues to engage with Nigeria on these and other issues.
“The Department of State has provided significant assistance to Nigeria as it modernizes its border management capabilities, and the Government of Nigeria recognizes the importance of improving its information sharing with the United States. Nevertheless, these investments have not yet resulted in sufficient improvements in Nigeria’s information sharing with the United States for border and immigration screening and vetting.
(ii) The entry into the United States of nationals of Nigeria as immigrants, except as Special Immigrants whose eligibility is based on having provided assistance to the United States Government, is hereby suspended.
“Section 2 Scope and Implementation of Suspensions and Limitations (a) Subject to the exceptions set forth in section 3(b) of Proclamation 9645, any waiver under section 3(c) of Proclamation 9645, and any enforcement provision of section 6(b) through (e) of Proclamation 9645, the suspensions of and limitations on entry pursuant to section 1(b) of this proclamation shall apply to foreign nationals of the designated countries who: (i) are outside the United States on the applicable effective date of this proclamation; (ii) do not have a valid visa on the applicable effective date of this proclamation; and (iii) do not qualify for a visa or other valid travel document under section 6(d) of Proclamation 9645.