U.S. Embassy closes consular offices in Abuja and Lagos

The United States’ Embassy in Nigeria has temporarily closed its consular section in Lagos and the capital city, Abuja.

In a statement published on the U.S. embassy Facebook page on Monday, the closure was as a result of the government shutdown in the U.S.

The U.S. embassy, in its statement, also apologised to Nigerians for any inconveniences the shutdown may have caused, stating that once the issues get resolved, the consulates would be reopened.

“Due to the current US government shutdown, the American centres located in the embassy, Abuja, and Consulate-General, Lagos are unfortunately closed. They will reopen once the US government shutdown is resolved. Sorry for any inconvenience to our valued patrons,” the statement reads.

The shutdown is linked to the funding of a proposed border wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

With Mexico refusing to fund the wall, the Mexico’s ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sarukhan, told U.S Today that “Mexico and the U.S. have done – and can do – great things together, but the one thing Mexico will not be doing with the U.S. is building a wall along our common border”.

While the battle on who funds the wall hangs, President Trump held a meeting at the White House On December 11, with Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer over the U.S.-Mexico border wall funding demanding they give him $5 billion to construct the wall.

The Democrats have refused to fund the Mexico wall. Mr Trump declared a shutdown of the government border security if he does not get the funds.

“I am proud to shut down the government for border security,” he declared.

Mr Trump noted that the shutdown would not take effect on government officials of Secret Service agents, the Customs, Border Patrol agents and U.S. troops deployed at the border.