Nigeria rejects US 'pressure' to accept Venezuelan deportees

Nigeria's foreign minister said the United States was pressuring African countries to accept Venezuelan deportees, some straight out of prison, but Africa's most populous country could not accommodate them due to its own problems.

President Donald Trump's administration this week asked five African presidents visiting the White House to take in migrants from other countries when deported by the US, two officials familiar with the discussions told Reuters news agency.

Yusuf Tuggar, the Nigerian foreign minister, told local Channels TV late on Thursday that Nigeria would not accept that.

"You have to also bear in mind that the US is mounting considerable pressure on African countries to accept Venezuelans to be deported from the US, some straight out of prison," he said from Brazil, where he was at a BRICS summit.

‘Problems of our own’

"It will be difficult for a country like Nigeria to accept Venezuelan prisoners into Nigeria. We have enough problems of our own," noting his nation's 230 million strong population.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

Since returning to office in January, Trump has been pressing to speed up deportations, including by sending migrants to third countries when there are problems or delays over sending them to their home nations.

This week, he hosted the presidents of Liberia, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania and Gabon at the White House.

According to a US and a Liberian official, he presented the plan for African countries to take in migrants from other countries when they are deported by the US.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that an internal State Department document sent to the African governments before the meeting called on them to agree to the "dignified, safe, and timely transfer from the United States" of third country nationals.

Last week, eight migrants, reportedly with criminal records, were controversially deported from the United States to South Sudan after a legal battle.

Of the eight, only one is from South Sudan. The rest comprise two people from Myanmar, two from Cuba, and one each from Vietnam, Laos and Mexico.