The Foreign Minister and chair of the West African State Mediation and Security Council Economic Community, Ambassador Yusuf Tagger, raised concerns about the inclusion of all Ekowas members in the new wave of US visa restrictions, explaining the policy as an important barrier to trade, diplomacy and regional prosperity.
At the opening of the 54th regular session of the Minister's level mediation and Security Council held in Abuja on Wednesday, Taggar warned that such restrictions could thwart efforts to deepen US-West African relations, particularly at a time when the region is ripe for economic cooperation and security collaboration.
The Minister expressed concern.
“We want to do business with the US, but visa restrictions are a non-tariff barrier to transactions.”
Tuggar framed the policy not only as a diplomatic failure but also as an economic missed opportunity, especially given Ecowas' vast resource base.
“We even have important minerals and rare earths, such as the samarium of Monazite in my hometown of Bauch.
“We were students of the arts of contracts in this part of the world, and even before the modern national system, we were part of the international trade system,” he added.
He further called on Washington to reevaluate its approach, highlighting that West Africa does not lack a potential partner.
“ECOWAS countries and the US have rare opportunities to create partnerships based on the principles of needs, and we are also a strategic alternative to more distant and politically different energy producers.
“We make deals to prosper. Who is the only question? Do you take up opportunities in our local area by allowing government officials, technocrats, executives and entrepreneurs to freely move back and forth to close the deal?” he asked.
President of the United States Donald Trump is considering imposing a travel ban from Nigeria and many other countries, primarily Africa.
Affected countries are expected to meet new requirements set by the State Department within 60 days.
“The new list includes Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Egypt, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Nigeria, South Toma. Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
“The memo identified various benchmarks that the administration estimates had not met, some countries suffered from “there were no competent or cooperative central government authorities to produce trustworthy identity documents or other civil documents,” or suffered from widespread government fraud.”
