Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Kingsley Moghalu, has weighed in on the recent U.S. visa ban affecting Nigeria and 18 other countries, urging Nigerians to focus on internal reforms rather than criticizing foreign policy decisions.

In a statement shared on X on Tuesday, Moghalu said he was “amused” by criticisms that judge foreign policy solely on moral grounds. He emphasized that geopolitics is fundamentally about protecting national interests, and that President Donald Trump’s actions reflect the United States’ own priorities, whether security, economic, or moral.

“@POTUS @realDonaldTrump is acting in the interests he has defined for his country,” Moghalu wrote. “The motivation behind such interests doesn’t matter.”

Moghalu challenged Nigeria and other African nations to focus inward, asking whether the continent has coherent strategies to protect its citizens from insecurity, terrorism, and other threats. He argued that Nigeria’s porous borders and internal governance failures do not entitle citizens to unrestricted access to other countries.

“The fact that Nigeria’s borders are porous and all sorts of criminals come in … does not give us an entitlement to another man’s land,” he said.

He clarified that his remarks were not in defense of corrupt elites, whom he described as “economic terrorists,” but rather in support of ordinary citizens seeking safety and stability amid worsening insecurity. Moghalu also noted that Africa has often been misled by foreign actors whose policies, while claiming to help, have sometimes deepened poverty and instability.

On immigration, Moghalu acknowledged that seeking better opportunities abroad is natural, but insisted that every sovereign nation has the right to regulate migration, particularly illegal entries. He welcomed recent clarifications from the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria, describing them as “sensible and appropriate” from a U.S. national security perspective.

The U.S. visa restrictions, effective January 1, 2026, involve partial suspension of nonimmigrant B-1/B-2 visitor visas, F, M, and J student and exchange visas, as well as certain immigrant visas, affecting Nigeria along with Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Venezuela, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.