The Federal Government has announced plans to introduce reciprocal measures in response to a newly enforced United States visa policy requiring Nigerian applicants to disclose their social media history from the past five years.
According to a report by USAfricaonline.com, the U.S. Mission confirmed that all Nigerian visa applicants must provide a comprehensive list of their social media handles on the DS-160 visa application form. The Mission further cautioned that failure to provide this information could result in immediate visa denial and possible ineligibility for future applications.
The U.S. Mission explained, “Visa applicants are required to list all social media usernames or handles of every platform they have used from the last 5 years on the DS-160 visa application form.” It added, “Applicants certify that the information in their visa application is true and correct before they sign and submit. Omitting social media information could lead to visa denial and ineligibility for future visas.”
Reacting to the development, the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa, said the Nigerian government had been informed of the new U.S. regulation prior to its announcement. He emphasized that the Federal Government would respond with similar requirements for U.S. citizens applying for Nigerian visas.
“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 U.S. 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,” Ebienfa stated.
He further disclosed that the Federal Government would convene an inter-agency meeting to determine the most effective and holistic response to the U.S. policy. According to him, the discussions will involve the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Interior, and the National Intelligence Agency.
“So, the stakeholders that are involved will have a meeting and agree on our best way to respond to it holistically,” he added.
