ABUJA (Reuters) – Lifting a US ban on Nigerians applying for immigrant visas will consume “tremendous resources” but the nation is making progress, President Muhammadu Buhari said Thursday.

Nigeria was among six countries in an expanded version of US President Donald Trump’s travel ban announced in January that prevented its citizens from obtaining US visas that can lead to permanent residence.

US officials cited issues such as inferior passport technology and insufficient information sharing on terror suspects and criminals.

Nigerian Interior Minister Ogbeni Aregbesola urged the US ambassador in Abuja to lift the ban, but also chaired a committee to address US concerns.

In a statement on Thursday, Buhari said they had “completely resolved” two of six US concerns, two others “substantially satisfied” and “made some progress” on the last two, based on suggestions from a committee report.

But he said they would still come up with a “workable plan” for the report’s full proposals, which would require “tremendous resources”.

“I am very pleased that these advances, particularly the uploading of lost and stolen passports and travel documents, have been recognized by the United States government,” said Buhari.

A US embassy spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Buhari said Nigeria would harmonize the data for identifying citizens stored in different parts of the government, create a national criminal management system modeled on INTERPOL, and set up a national criminal DNA laboratory.

Its statement failed to specify what Nigeria had already done. A Buhari spokesman put questions to Aregbesola that were not immediately available.

Nigerians can still obtain visas to study, work, and travel in the United States, but only 8,000 Nigerians received immigrant visas in fiscal year 2018.

Letter from Libby George; Adaptation by Giles Elgood