The United States Mission in Nigeria has announced the temporary closure of its Embassy in Abuja and Consulate General in Lagos in observance of Juneteenth National Independence Day.
In a statement shared on its official X account on Thursday, the mission said both diplomatic offices will remain closed on Friday, June 19, 2026.
According to the statement, regular diplomatic and consular services will resume after the public holiday.
The temporary closure will affect routine visa appointments, passport services and other non-emergency consular operations scheduled for the day.
Juneteenth is observed annually on June 19 to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States.
The day marks the anniversary of June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, and informed enslaved African Americans that they were free, more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Juneteenth became an official federal holiday in the United States in 2021 after former President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law.
Since then, federal institutions, including U.S. embassies and consulates around the world, have observed the day as an official public holiday.
