By Favour Ulebor, Abuja

Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chair of the ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, has expressed concern over reports that the United States is considering visa restrictions on all ECOWAS member states, warning that such a move could hinder trade, strain diplomatic relations, and stall development across the West African subregion.

Speaking during the opening of the 54th Ordinary Session of the Mediation and Security Council at Ministerial Level in Abuja on Wednesday, Tuggar said the proposed restrictions could undermine ongoing efforts to deepen economic and security partnerships between West Africa and the United States.

“It would be most unfortunate if it comes to pass, because we are a region of opportunities ready to do deals,” Tuggar said.

“We would like to do deals with the US, but visa restrictions are non-tariff barriers to deals.”

He described the potential policy as not only a diplomatic setback but also an economic miscalculation, especially given ECOWAS’s rich natural resources.

“We possess critical minerals and rare earths, such as Samarium from the Monazite found in my home state of Bauchi,” he noted.

“We in this part of the world are students of the art of the deal and have been part of the international trading system even before the modern state system.”

Ambassador Tuggar urged Washington to reconsider its stance, emphasizing that West Africa is ripe with potential and not lacking in viable global partners.

“ECOWAS countries and the US have a rare opportunity to create a partnership based on mutual needs. We are a strategic alternative to more distant and politically divergent energy producers,” he said.

“We will do deals for our prosperity; the only question is with whom? Who is ready to seize the opportunities in our region by facilitating the movement of government officials, technocrats, business executives, and entrepreneurs to close these deals?”

According to recent reports, the US government is reviewing visa policies that could affect several African nations, including all ECOWAS member states. President Donald Trump’s administration is reportedly considering travel restrictions on countries deemed to have failed to meet new benchmarks set by the US State Department.

The list reportedly includes Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, the Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The criteria cited in a State Department memo include the inability to produce reliable identity or civil documents and, in some cases, issues of widespread government fraud or lack of cooperation by central authorities.