Nigerians don’t need visa lottery anymore – US

The United States government says its Diversity Visa lottery programme has been very “successful” in Nigeria, adding that Nigerians no longer need to participate in it.


According to the US Mission in Nigeria, the primary objective of encouraging Nigerians, who hitherto belonged to the category of under-represented groups in America to immigrate to the country, through the DV lottery programme, had been achieved.

US Consul-General, Mr. Jeffrey Hawkins, said this in Lagos on Thursday during a press conference to explain why Nigerians and citizens of 18 other countries were excluded from participating in the DV 2015 programme registration.

Hawkins said, “The DV programme has been successful in Nigeria as we now have an estimated 1.5 million Nigerian-Americans in the US and we are proud of their contribution to our economy. Nigerians are now fully part of the American life and there are a large number of successful citizens of this country in the US.

“We have achieved the objective of promoting diversity in the US from Nigeria. In view of this, there is no more need to encourage immigration from Nigeria through the US Diversity Visa lottery programme. The DV lottery is no longer appropriate in Nigeria.”

Source: The Punch