11-7-2025
Nigeria’s foreign affairs minister Yusuf Tuggar said Thursday evening that the USA is forcing Nigeria to take in deported prisoners and refugee seekers from the US.
Ambassador Tuggar who was speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today stated that the US is pressuring Nigeria and several other African countries to accept the refugees mostly from Venezuela.
“You have to also bear in mind that the US is mounting considerable pressure on African countries to accept Venezuelans to be deported from the US, some straight out of prison,” Tuggar said.
“It will be difficult for a country like Nigeria to accept Venezuelan prisoners into Nigeria. We have enough problems of our own. We cannot accept Venezuelan deportees to Nigeria, for crying out loud. We already have 230 million people. You will be the same people that would castigate us if we acquiesce to accepting Venezuelans from US prisons to be brought in,” he added.
Tuggar further warned that yielding to the U.S. request could open the floodgates for more deportations in future.
“The issue of accepting Venezuelan deportees, honestly, I don’t think is something that Nigeria is in a position to work with. And I think it would be unfair to insist that Nigeria accepts 300 Venezuelan deportees. Maybe that might just even be the beginning.”
Yusuf Tuggar...Nigeria foreign affairs minister