The Federal Government has vowed to reciprocate the new visa policy imposed by the United States on Nigerians mandating them to disclose their five-year social media history in application forms.
In a statement by the United States Mission in Nigeria on Monday, the American government announced that henceforth, visa applicants from Nigeria would be required to submit their social media accounts across every platform from the last five years while filing their applications.
“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,” the embassy said in the statement on Monday.
Subsequently, the embassy urged applicants to ensure that information provided during the process was accurate, threatening that any false statement could result in visa denial or total ban from entering the United States.
“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,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, reacting to the development, the Nigerian government, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through its spokesman Kimiebi Ebienfa, noted that the ministry noted the decision and would be responding appropriately.
“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,” Mr Ebienfa said on Monday.
Speaking further, Mr Ebienfa emphasised that visa policies were reciprocal, adding that the government would convey a meeting with stakeholders and could reach a decision to mandate Americans applying for Nigerian visa to disclose their social media identifiers.
He added, “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. So, the stakeholders that are involved will have a meeting and agree on our best way to respond to it holistically.”
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