The United States has warned its citizens to reconsider travelling to Nigeria and other countries, due to increased risk of crime, terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, and armed gangs.
In an update issued on Thursday, the US State Department said that the travel advisory was necessary due to increased tensions in various locations around the world in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.
It said countries such as Russia, China, North Korea, Israel, and Lebanon have their travel advisories raised to the highest level and authorised non-emergency US government personnel and family members to depart the named countries.
The statement reads: “Due to increased tensions in various locations around the world, the potential for terrorist attacks, demonstrations or violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests, the Department of State advises U.S. citizens overseas to exercise increased caution.”
The State Department said African countries with the highest levels of travel alerts (Level 4: Do not travel) include Niger, Libya, South Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Central African Republic, while Nigeria was listed under the third tier of caution alert (Reconsider to travel).
The US highlighted Bauchi, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Zamfara, Borno, Yobe, Kogi, and northern Adamawa as states to avoid due to terrorism and kidnapping.
Abia, Anambra, Bayelsa, Delta, Enugu, Imo, and Rivers states (with the exception of Port Harcourt), on the other hand, were blacklisted due to crime, kidnapping, and armed gangs.
Although the whole country was listed under the third tier of travel advisory, the aforementioned states were marked with the highest alerts.
