This was made known by the United
States ambassador to Nigeria, His Excellency Terence McCulley, during an
exclusive interview with us.
According to him, “We recognize that
the visa is an important part of our relationship and we have every interest in
facilitating legitimate travel visas of students, people and tourists who want
to travel to the US as part of dynamic series of exchanges between both
countries.”
The ambassador attributed this to the
hard work of the consular offices in both Abuja and Lagos. Both offices have
been able to manage what is a very significant increase in work load without a
concomitant increase in human or physical resources to manage the interviews
that are being undertaken, he added.
Over the past years there had been a
huge increase in demand for the US visa by Nigerians which led to a significant
wait time to secure a visa interview.
This, unfortunately, had permitted
middle men and touts to grab appointments and then resell them, he said: “By
reducing the time Nigerians have to wait to secure a visa we hope to eliminate
these people who are profiting on the gullibility of visa applicants and we hope
to be able to offer better services,” he said.
Credit: Gaija
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