Yusuf Tuggar, Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, has stated that his country would not bow to pressure from the Donald Trump administration to take in Venezuelans who have been deported from the United States.
“Nigeria has enough problems of its own and won’t be a dumping ground for Venezuelan prisoners deported from the US amid Trump’s crackdown on undocumented migrants,” declared Tuggar, who appeared as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today show on Thursday.
US President Donald Trump declared his intention to impose an additional 10 percent trade tax on “anti-American” BRICS countries, which include China, India, and Nigeria, on the last day of the summit of the 11-member economic and political group with Chinese influence.
The threat of tariff hikes may not be related to Nigeria’s involvement in the BRICS conference, according to the country’s foreign affairs minister. “The issue of tariffs may not necessarily have to do with us participating in the BRICS meeting” Yusuf Tuggar stated.
“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 prisons.
“It would be difficult for countries like Nigeria to accept Venezuelan prisoners into Nigeria. We have enough problems of our own; we cannot accept Venezuelan deportees to Nigeria. We already have 230 million people.”
