Ms Emily Enright, the Citizen Service Officer, U.S. Embassy, Abuja has urged the media to mobilise Nigerians with dual citizenship on their right to vote in the November U.S. Presidential election. Enright made the call Thursday in Yola in an interactive session with newsmen in Yola.
Enright said that such Nigerians who must be 18 years and above could be able to vote from Nigeria through the Voting Absentee System that make room for U.S. citizens outside the country to vote.
“We want the media to take the message to Nigerian-Americans living in your society that they do have the right to vote.
“We want as many people as possible to turn out and vote in the election,” Enright said.
She urged such Nigerians and other American citizens in Nigeria to visit the website www.fvap.gov to register as overseas voters. Also speaking at the occasion, the Consular Chief of the U.S. Embassy, Abuja, Ms Stalie Hankins said that eligible voters in Nigeria would be sent their ballot papers through email.
Hankins explained that there would be no designated voting centres, adding that during the election, completed ballot papers would be submitted to the embassy for onward transmission to the U.S.
Hankins also spoke on complains over assessing U.S. visa, saying that the conditions in Nigeria was the same worldwide, for nationals of other countries.
She said that the problem of visa in Nigeria, if any was not peculiar to Nigeria as all the conditions Nigerians were required to meet were the same requirements for other nationals.
Hankins said that from January to date, the embassy in Abuja received about 20, 000 visa applications out of which more than half were approved.
NAN
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