The US President-elect, Joe Biden, has not been sworn into office yet, but he has already given everyone a clear picture of what to expect from his administration when they hit the road running from January 20th. From all indications, the Biden administration is already showing some good signs for Nigeria. One of the good news coming from the incoming administration is the statement that his administration will lift the travel ban imposed on Nigeria and other Muslim countries by the Trump-led administration.
This decision is part of the decision to roll back some of the regulations and policies which were put in place by Donald Trump. The Democrats President-elect doesn’t think those enforcements are for the best interests of the American society.
During the early stages of his tenure, President Trump had enforced regulations banning the coming in of immigrants from Muslim countries into America. Giving reasons for the ban, he had said that it was for security purposes.
Some of the countries affected were – Yemen, Somalia, Iran, Chad, North Korea, Libya, and Venezuela – most of them being Muslim.
As if that wasn’t enough, in the early part of 2020, President Trump had also included Nigeria, Sudan, Tanzania, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, and Eritrea to the list.
In a report made by CNN and Daily Post, the incoming White House Chief of Staff, Ron Klain, said on Saturday that on his first day in office, Joe Biden will reverse several regulations which were enforced by the outgoing Trump administration, and some of those regulations is the reversal of travel ban placed on Nigeria and other countries which are mostly Muslim countries.
In the statement, Ron Klain said that Trump has done a lot of damages to America, and that immediately Biden gets into office, he will be concerned with reversing those damages, and also see what steps he will take to move America forward.
In a report which was made by BBC News on January 31, 2020, the United States had said that citizens from Nigeria, Sudan, Eritrea, Tanzania, Sudan, Kyrgyzstan, and Myanmar will be banned from obtaining certain kind of visas into America. However, it was stated that citizens from those countries were free to visit America as tourists.
Giving reasons for the visa ban, an official of Trump’s administration had said that the decision to place the visa ban on those countries were due to their inability to meet with US standards on security and information-sharing. It said that for some reasons, these countries want to be helpful, yet they have refused to meet up with the requirements of the US on security issues.
The travel ban on Nigeria and the other 6 six countries means that Nigerians could travel to the US as tourists, but most of them were not permitted to live there permanently. The ban was an expansion of Trump’s travel ban policy, and even though the ban was not as severe as those for the other countries listed in the first ban, it had still generated a lot of controversies.
The travel ban had been one of the biggest controversies of Trump administration, with many saying that America is the “godfather of all nations”, and that it is wrong for it to close its doors against other citizens of the world. But Trump administration said that it was the ideal way to shield America against the infiltration of terrorists.
So the statement from the incoming Biden administration shows that the Democrats President-elect is not comfortable with the travel ban. Biden has said it repeatedly that he campaigned as a Democrats, but that he will be a president for all American people.
The incoming administration had also said that when it gets into office, it will turn more attention to Africa, and seek to revive America’s relationship with the African continent. He said that the decision was due to the support that the black community had given him during the election.
This indeed good news to Nigeria, because it already appears that Biden’s administration will be more rewarding to Nigerians than Trump’s administration. He also promised to give everyone in America the freedom to practice their faith, and work with everyone towards the progress of America.
For those who have been trying to move to the United States without success, in just three days from now, all that might become a possibility. As Ron Klain has said that the travel ban policy and other regulations will be reversed by Biden on his first day in office.
