Officials, journalists, others may miss UNGA over U.S. embassy’s visa refusal

The long-awaited United Nations General Assembly meeting (UNGA) began in New York, United States, yesterday, but some Nigerian officials and accredited and non-accredited journalists may not be part of the event due to their inability to secure visas at the American Embassy in Lagos and Abuja.

Persecondnews.com gathered Thursday that some Nigerian officials, accompanying officials in the Presidential Villa, as well as 4 journalists accredited by the UN’s Media Accreditation & Liaison Unit (MALU)  to cover the  77^th Session, have not been given visas to travel to the U.S.

An official also hinted that the government got a Note Verbale through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for some affected persons, only for the U.S. Embassy to reject the majority of the names. 

Per Second News learnt that no fewer than 12 journalists billed to attend a sideline conference to be chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari were also denied visas. The conference will have in attendance US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Aliko Dangote, and top government officials and private sector leaders.

One of the affected journalists said  she’s “very upset” that many people were denied visas to attend the conference, whose main program starts on Monday.