The federal government of Nigeria has vowed to retaliate duly to a recent US visa policy that requires Nigerian applicants to submit their social media profiles and activities from the past five years as part of their visa application.
The United State mission in Nigeria had on Monday August 18 issued a stringent directive to all visa applicants, mandating the disclosure of all social media usernames and handles used over the past five years as part of the visa application process.
Applicants must include a complete list of their social media accounts on the DS-160 visa application form, according to the United State Mission said.
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The instruction comes after the United State Department of State reaffirmed its commitment to bolster national security by implementing more stringent screening procedures, the mission added.
In response to the remark, the ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that the government is aware of the situation and that the United States Mission in Nigeria had notified the ministry prior to the official announcement.
The spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa pointed out that the FG will take a reciprocal step, stating that United States nationals requesting a Nigerian visa will have to meet comparable conditions.
According to Ebienfa, the FG will convene an interagency meeting to determine the best course of action for addressing the recently enacted visa requirement.
“We are aware of the development. I think it’s part of the new measures they informed us before now that they will implement. Well, they mentioned those issues before.
“So, on things of this nature, the best we can do is to carry out reciprocal action. Some people from the US might want to apply for a visa, and we will adopt the same measures.
“I think that’s what the government might do because anything visa is reciprocal. What you are mandating our nationals to do, we will also mandate your citizens applying for our visa to do,’’ he said.
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According to Ebienfa, the FG will convene an interagency meeting to determine the best course of action for addressing the recently enacted visa requirement.
Ebienfa further stated that the National Intelligence Agency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Interior will all be present at the FG’s inclusive meeting.
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