Come 22 February 2020, which is barely a few weeks away, Nigerians will not be able to immigrate to the United States of America, as per a new policy of the Donald Trump presidency in the US. This kind of thing has never happened to Nigeria before, and it appears unfair and quite humiliating for Africa’s most populous country and the largest economy. It is also quite denigrating to America’s black population in general, as the ban sends the message that their heritage doesn’t matter in the US.
According to the New York Times, “The policy bans immigrant visas, which are issued to those seeking to live in the United States, for people from Nigeria, Myanmar, Eritrea and Kyrgyzstan. It will also prevent immigrants from Sudan and Tanzania from moving to the United States through the diversity visa lottery.”
But why the ban; what reasons has the Trump administration given for it? According to the New York Times, the Trump administration has argued that the travel ban, first enacted in 2017 almost immediately after he came to power, “was necessary to ensure that countries satisfy security requirements for travel into the United States.”
To be sure, securing America is of paramount importance and should be aggressively pursued by any US president in power, including Trump. But is the ban of Nigerians from immigrating to the US really about securing America? How many Nigerians have been found to be terrorists? Moreover, the relative number of Nigerian churches in the US is astronomical. Doesn’t that count for law-abiding and God-fearing? According to Lai Mohammed, Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Nigeria and the US are currently cooperating on combating terrorism; with the minister noting that “Nigeria has committed a lot of resources to fight terrorism.” With all these, the argument that the ban is about securing America (against Nigerians) appears to be unconvincing.
There is a country out there that is known to every observing person, including perhaps the US authorities, as the breeding ground for terrorists, including those responsible for the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attack in New York City that led to the demise of 2,977 innocent victims and more than 6,000 others injured.” Yet this terrorist-breeding country is a very strong ally of the US. Therefore, the ban must not solely be about US national security.
Perplexed by the event, I sought to find answers. The problem doesn’t seem to be rooted in the extent of corruption that exists in Nigeria, since it is widely expressed by respected US politicians that the present administration in the US is not without its own problem with corruption.
Or are Nigerians inherently vulnerable and are targeted because of the massive success they have made in the US? Sadly, many people are of this opinion: others do not celebrate your success, but rather feel that by working too hard and being better, “you are taking jobs away from the locals.” In the 9 April 2018 issue in this column, I alluded to the fact that Nigerians are the most educated immigrants in the United States of America. “They are more educated than Asian immigrants (from China, Korea, Japan, India) as well as the white immigrants, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.” These data, of course, are based on the relative populations of the racial groups. One is tempted to ask whether the ban is a backlash against Nigerian immigrants’ success in America. (Needless to say that the success of Nigerians all over the Western world has somewhat turned the negative stereotypes about black people on its head!)
Could the ban be racism all over again? Although it is my hope that this is not the case, but Professor Uchenna Ekwo, who came to the United States from Nigeria about 20 years ago is quoted by New York Times as saying that “he saw racist elements in the policy.”
The racism argument reverberates in many public discourses on the matter at hand. For example, people allude to Mr. Trump’s disparaging comments about African nations in the past, when he complained that Nigerians who entered the United States on visas would never “go back to their huts.” Are the locals in America, for example, the Trump base, feeling displaced? (The United States reportedly issued more than 7,920 immigrant visas to Nigerians in the 2018 fiscal year, the second-most of any African country.)
The New York Times observes that the ban “also comes as the 2020 election heats up. “Mr. Trump is expected to use his travel ban, as well as his efforts to cut refugee admissions, to rally his political base,” to enhance his chances in the election.
Strange as it may sound, the reaction from the home government in Abuja about the ban is not publicly known yet. Of course, any reactions must be based on the facts of the matter; which means knowing precisely why Nigeria is being banned from immigrating to the US. Nigerians in the diaspora also need to look into lobbying activities, so that their voice can be heard. For example, part of the taxes paid to the US by the diaspora can be equitably distributed to foreign countries, including those where the diaspora might have come from.
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