By Ayo Akinfe
[1] They will no longer be able to send their children to the US to go to school as before
[2] They will no longer be able to go to the US for medical treatment
[3] Our government will no longer get priority at US summits
[4] There will be little addition to the $5.6bn US foreign direct investment in Nigeria
[5] The US will no longer offer support to the government’s Boko Haram campaign. Instead, funding will go to other countries in the Lake Chad Basin Authority like Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republic
[6] The US will not be selling Nigeria arms and weaponry anytime soon
[7] US holidays by the members of out elite will now be limited
[8] Our elite will find it harder to invest in US property making their house buying programmes more difficult
[9] They will find it much harder to go purchase and import US cars into Nigeria
[10] Our elite will find it harder to open bank accounts in the US
On the surface, this visa ban looks like a good development as it should force the government to act on this insecurity matter but the reality is that our elite can simply turn their attention elsewhere. Nothing stops them now focusing on Canada, China, the European Union, the UK, Japan or Russia.
I think the main impact of this ban is that it embarrasses to the Nigerian government into admitting that it has failed woefully on security. Let us see if there is any action over the coming weeks because the only thing in the way of eliminating Boko Haram and the armed herdsmen is a lack of political will.
