Nigeria pushes back on U.S. deportation demands : NPR

Yusuf Tuggar, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria at the top of the BRICS in Brazil 2025.

Mauro Pimentel / AFP via Getty Images

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Mauro Pimentel / AFP via Getty Images

Lagos, Nigeria – The Government of Nigeria said it will resist pressure from the Trump administration to accept the deportees of Venezuela and other third countries.

In an interview with Nigeria’s channels TV on Friday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, said that the United States was pressure on several African nations to accept foreign nationals that the United States wanted to expel.

“We already have more than 230 million people,” said Tuggar. “In the words of the famous American public rap group Enemy – you will remember a line of Flava Flav:” Flava Flav has its own problems. I can’t do anything for you, guy. “”

His comments mark one of the most publicized refusals to date the efforts of the Trump administration to expel migrants, under the threat of tariffs and restrictions of visas for countries that refuse. The American government has not officially confirmed that it is urgent African nations to accept nationals of the third country.

Earlier this month, the US government expelled 8 men in South Sudan. The deportees, from various countries-including Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cuba and Mexico-had been transferred from the United States to a military base in Djibouti in East Africa in May, and were transported to South Sudan this weekend after the United States Supreme Court paved the way for their withdrawal.

In May, Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs Olivier Nduhungirehe said on Rwandan state television that his government was in “early talks” with Washington concerning adoption in nationals of the third expelled country in the United States in the United States.

This week, the State Department imposed significant restrictions on visas on the citizens of Nigeria, Ethiopia and Cameroon. Almost all non -immigrant and non -diplomatic visas delivered to citizens of these countries will now be valid for only three months and for a single entry – part of what the United States calls for “realignment of global reciprocity”.

This decision has aroused criticism in Nigeria, where officials deny that the restrictions are reciprocal and argue that they are rather linked to the country’s refusal to comply with the US migration requests.

“It will be difficult for a country like Nigeria to accept Venezuelans prisoners in Nigeria,” said Tuggar. “We have enough problems. We cannot accept the Venezuelan deportees in Nigeria, for having shouted aloud.”

The Nigerian government says that it engages with US officials to conclude new transactions involving critical minerals, oil and gas – but will not negotiate its sovereignty. “We will continue to defend our national interest,” said Tuggar.

Nigeria’s position follows the reports by The Wall Street Journal That the Trump administration urged five African presidents – who met Trump in the White House earlier this week – to accept deportees whose countries of origin refuse to take them back.

The summit, officially focused on trade, included the presidents of Liberia, Senegal, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau and Mauritania. But in his opening remarks, President Trump has referred to the migration policy: “I hope we can lower the high rates of over-height of visas and make progress on the safe agreements of the third country,” he said.

Trump also triggered a backlash at the meeting after welcoming the president of Liberia, Joseph Boakai, for having spoken “such a good English” – despite the English being the official language of Liberia. The country was founded by people who are enslaved by the United States in the 19th century.