A Facebook user has claimed that Nigeria retaliated against the recent United States visa restrictions by halting an alleged mineral deal between the two countries.
In a 21-minute video posted on July 2, Dabreezy Comedy, a Facebook account, claimed that Nigeria struck back by blocking the deal involving the said mineral.
The video has gathered 102k views, 3.3k likes, and 265 comments.
The clip began with an excerpt from Firstpost Africa, a news outlet based in Durban, South Africa.
Firstpost Africa claims to bring stories from across the world through Africa’s lens.
In the first few seconds, Alyson le Grange, the news anchor, was presenting a report with the headline: Nigeria warns the US could lose access to African minerals.
The rest of the video was accompanied by a male voice, which claimed Nigeria scrapped a minerals deal with the US over the visa restrictions.
The male voice had the inflections of an artificially intelligent (AI) generated tone.
BACKGROUND
On June 4, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order that imposed a full travel ban on nationals of 12 countries.
Nationals from seven other countries were handed partial travel restrictions to the US.
On June 18, a leaked US state department internal memo indicated that Trump was considering imposing a travel ban on a host of other countries, mostly from Africa, including Nigeria.
Yusuf Tuggar, Nigerian minister of foreign affairs, said the decision would be unfortunate because West Africa was ready to do deals with the US.
On July 8, the US announced visa restrictions on Nigeria and other countries.
The US initially cited visa reciprocity concerns over the decision, but TheCable reported that Nigeria’s refusal to accept asylum seekers from the US was partly responsible for the recent visa restrictions imposed.
Later, the US said the decision was reached due to security worries.
VERIFICATION
In response, Nigeria said the US’s decision appeared misaligned with the principles of reciprocity, equity, and mutual respect that should guide bilateral engagements between friendly nations.
The foreign ministry urged the US to reconsider its decision in the spirit of partnership, cooperation, and shared global responsibilities.
Separately, Tuggar said there are ongoing engagements with the US to clarify the issue.
He, however, noted that the US was pressuring some countries to receive Venezuelan deportees — some of them prisoners — and stressed that Nigeria will not be a dumping ground for undocumented migrants.
A keyword search of the alleged mineral deal between the US and Nigeria did not produce results.
There have also been no comments from Tuggar, the foreign ministry, the office of the president, or the US embassy on an alleged halted mineral deal.
In light of the matter, such a deal would be made public.
VERDICT
There is no evidence to support the claim that Nigeria halted a mineral deal with the US to retaliate against the imposed visa restrictions.
