The US Travel Ban Expands Again, and Nigeria Is Once More on the List

President Donald Trump on Tuesday, December 16, signed a proclamation expanding United States travel restrictions to 39 countries, placing Nigeria among 15 nations now subject to partial entry bans. The White House stated the measures, which take effect on January 1, 2026, are intended to “protect the security of the United States” by tightening screening and vetting procedures for foreign nationals.

Under the new policy, Nigerians are barred from entering the US as immigrants or on several non-immigrant visa categories, including business and tourism visas (B-1, B-2 and B-1/B-2), as well as academic, vocational and exchange visas (F, M and J). The restrictions do not apply retroactively to all Nigerians: lawful permanent residents, diplomats, athletes travelling for major sporting events, and Nigerians who already hold valid visas issued before the ban takes effect are exempt. Case-by-case waivers may also be granted where US authorities determine that travel serves the national interest. Still, for the vast majority of Nigerians who hope to study, work, visit family or do business in the US, the door has effectively been closed.

The Trump administration justified Nigeria’s inclusion by pointing to what it described as persistent security and governance challenges. In its proclamation, the White House cited the presence of “radical Islamic terrorist groups such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State” operating in parts of Nigeria, alongside concerns about unreliable civil records, corruption and visa overstay rates. According to US data, Nigeria recorded a 5.56 percent overstay rate for B-1/B-2 visas and an 11.90 percent rate for student and exchange visas. These factors, officials said, create “substantial screening and vetting difficulties”.

This is the third time Trump has imposed a travel ban. During his first term, he barred entry from several majority-Muslim countries, a policy that faced intense legal challenges before the Supreme Court upheld a revised version in 2017. Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has moved aggressively to restrict both legal and illegal migration, halting asylum processing, reviewing cases approved under the Biden administration and tightening conditions for green-card holders. The latest proclamation followed the arrest of an Afghan national suspected of shooting two National Guard troops in Washington DC over the Thanksgiving weekend, an incident the administration has pointed to as evidence of systemic screening failures abroad.

For Nigeria, however, the ban lands like a culmination. The country’s global standing has been steadily eroded by years of insecurity, weak state capacity and incoherent diplomacy. Long before Tuesday’s announcement, the consequences of that loss of goodwill were already visible. In July 2025, the US downgraded Nigerian non-immigrant visas to single-entry permits valid for just three months, reversing what had once been multi-year access. Travel, once routine for Nigerian students, professionals and families, has increasingly become an obstacle course of shortened timelines and heightened suspicion.

The ethics of Trump’s decision are likely to be debated in familiar terms, but the policy’s logic is brutally transactional: states that cannot convincingly guarantee security, reliable documentation and compliance with immigration rules are treated as risks to be managed, not partners to be engaged. Ordinary Nigerians bear the cost. The ban does not distinguish between those fleeing insecurity, those pursuing education, or those simply seeking opportunity; it collapses them all into a single national profile.

What is perhaps most striking is how little leverage Nigeria appears to have in response. With its diplomatic presence weakened, its international messaging muddled, and its internal crises unresolved, the country finds itself with few tools to push back. Claims of religious persecution, widely circulated in foreign political circles, have further distorted Nigeria’s image abroad, while persistent governance failures have reinforced the perception of a state unable to protect its citizens or account for them.

Travel bans are never just about borders. They are about reputation, trust and power. In this case, the message stamped into Nigerian passports is not only that entry to the US is restricted, but that Nigeria itself is increasingly viewed as a liability.