Nigerian Government Slashes Visa Fees For United States Citizens

The old amount comprised $160 as visa fee and $20 as “processing and expedient fees”.

The Nigerian Government has slashed its visa application charges for citizens of the United States from $180 to $160.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the old amount comprised $160 as visa fee and $20 as “processing and expedient fees”.

According to the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Immigration Service, Mr Muhammad Babandede, the reduction followed a review of the US’ visa reciprocity policy for Nigeria.

Babandede stated this in a February 5 memo marked NIS/HQ/CGI/806/7 and addressed to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In August 2019, the US Government imposed additional visa fees on Nigerians in retaliation for the “treatment afforded to US citizens” by the Nigerian Government.

The policy required successful applicants for nonimmigrant US visas in the B, F, H1B, I, L, and R categories to pay between $80 and $303 as reciprocity fees.

This is in addition to the normal visa application fees of between $160 and $190.

“The total cost for a U.S. citizen to obtain a visa to Nigeria is currently higher than the total cost for a Nigerian to obtain a comparable visa to the United States.

“The new reciprocity fee for Nigerian citizens is meant to eliminate that cost difference,” the US Embassy said in a statement on its website then.

In his letter, the NIS urged all Nigerian missions in the US to immediately implement the new visa charges payable by US citizens, and “discontinue charging processing or expedient fees”.

“Our Missions are to issue up to two years multiple entry visa to frequent short visit travelers on request in line with reciprocity,” he said.

A senior official of the Nigerian Consulate in New York, told NAN that the “processing and expedient fees” of $20 was for online application and payment services rendered by a private firm.

Babandede’s letter came a day after the President Muhammadu Buhari launched the Nigeria Visa Policy 2020 which, among others, increased the country’s visa classes from six to 79.

Nobel laureate Yunus facing over 100 Bangladesh lawsuits

Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus is facing more than 100 lawsuits from disgruntled employees at the telecoms unit of his poverty-busting microfinance Grameen Bank, lawyers said Thursday.

The cases filed against him and other senior managers in a Dhaka court relate to claims from Grameen Telecom employees for a share of profits, their lawyer Jafrul Hasan Sharif said.

Yunus has faced mounting legal problems in recent years. In 2011 he was sacked as head of Grameen Bank in a move his supporters said was orchestrated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“According to Bangladesh’s Worker’s Profit Participation law, Yunus’s Grameen Telecom was bound to share five per cent of the company’s profit with the workers,” lawyer Hasan told AFP.

“But for the last 10 years, the GT didn’t do so.”

Grameen Telecom operates a service called “Village Phone” dedicated to getting cellphones to the rural poor in the South Asian nation of 165 million people.

The company also owns a 34.2-per cent stake in GrameenPhone, Bangladesh’s largest mobile phone operator with some 75 million subscribers.

Yunus, 79, who founded Grameen Bank in the 1980s and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, could not be reached on Thursday.

A spokesperson declined to comment.

Last month the economist was granted bail by a labour court after an arrest warrant was issued when he failed to appear at a hearing in a separate case.

He has been at odds with premier Hasina since a brief and unsuccessful foray into Bangladesh’s fiery, high-risk political scene in 2007.

Hasina has accused him of “sucking blood” from the poor amid allegations his bank charges interest rates of around 20 per cent.

In 2013, he was the subject of a state-backed hate campaign that painted him as un-Islamic and a spreader of homosexuality, which is illegal in Bangladesh.

NECO releases Nov/Dec 2019 SSCE results

The National Examinations Council (NECO) has published the results of candidates, who sat for their November/December 2019 Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) for external candidates.

This was announced by Mohammed Gana, the Acting Registrar of the Council on Thursday.

In a statement, Gana stated that the results are available 49 days after the last paper was written.

A total of 65,207 candidates sat for English language, out of which 41,214, representing 63% got either Distinction or Credit.

66,398 candidates sat for Mathematics, out of which 54,565, representing 82.18% got either Distinction or Credit.

Gana said that 33,576 candidates, representing 48.68% got five credits and above, including English Language and Mathematics.

The NECO boss, however, expressed his displeasure at the increase in exam malpractices.

“While 12,084 cases were recorded in 2018, 17,004 cases was recorded in 2019.

“This came about as a result of the comprehensive monitoring by senior staff which also resulted in the decline in number of candidates with 5 credits and above,” Gana said.

Germany Announce New Immigration Policy For Nigeria

“We want to make very clear conditions set by the new law and we will like to support them in fulfilling these criteria."

The German Government has announced a new immigration policy to address regular and irregular migration from Nigeria.

Minister of State of German Federal Chancellery, Annette Widmann-Mauz, said this in Abuja on Wednesday.

Widmann-Mauz speaking through an interpreter, said, “We have to inform people before they leave their country of origin, in this case, Nigeria; to inform them about the legal regular pact of migration, especially over our Skills Migration Act.

“We want to make very clear conditions set by the new law and we will like to support them in fulfilling these criteria.

“We will like to give advice and inform, but more than that, we will also like to offer language courses and training.

“Therefore, we have centres of information and advice, which will enhance the qualification, especially for the labour market.

“We will not only like to give information about the criteria for legal migration but at the same time make clear if they are some wrong expectations about migration to Germany.”

She said that explanations would be made to clarify issues on what illegal migration results to, saying their target was to support people not to go the dangerous way.

Crisis hits Cross River PDP over alleged imposition of candidates

Supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party, under the aegis of the Yala Political Development Forum of Cross River State, have urged the party’s National Chairman, Uche Secondus, to caution Governor Ben Ayade.

Members of the group made the appeal when they marched on the party’s national secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday, to protest the alleged imposition of candidates in local government areas of the state.

The protesters, who are mainly chairmanship and vice-chairmanship aspirants seeking to fly the PDP flag in the coming local government council elections in the state, carried placards and chanted war songs to press home their demands.

Some of the placards read, ‘Secondus, call Ayade to order,’ ‘Cross River is not Obudu LGA,’ ‘Ayade, let the people choose their leaders,’ and ‘We say no to imposition of leaders.’

They alleged, among other things, that the governor, who hails from Obudu LGA, imposed his kinsmen as chairmen and vice-chairmen of other LGAs in the state.

Secretary of the group, Mr. Simon Okwori, said, “It has not been worse than this, that even our chief in Yala LGA would come outside to place a charm in the local government that elections will never be held as a result of imposition.

“It is very surprising that Ayade single-handedly picked and imposed some of his cronies and stooges across the state against the democratic tenets of our great party. There is a need for justice and a level playing field for all the aspirants as witnessed in the PDP primaries in the past.

“We hereby call on the leadership of our great party to adopt transparent primaries in the state to guarantee fair play and ensure the emergence of credible candidates for the party. Anything short of this is a direct invitation of anarchy, which poses a huge threat to our great party and democracy.”

The group’s President, Mr Ogar Odey, later presented a petition to the PDP National Vice-Chairman (North Central), Theophilus Bakashan, who received it on behalf of Secondus.

In response, Bakashan assured the group that the party leadership would look into their grievances and ensure justice prevails, while charging its members to shun violence and remain committed to the party.

When contacted, Ayade’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr Christian Ita, said, “The truth is, there was no imposition of any kind. Affirmative congresses were held across the local government areas.

“The claim that he imposed his kinsman is not only stupid but also ludicrous. Yala and Obudu, where the governor hails from, neither have linguistic nor cultural affinities.

“They speak different languages and their names are distinct from one another. So, how is it possible to bring or impose someone from Obudu? This is balderdash.”

You’ll return Abacha loot if stolen, US tells Nigeria

The United States has warned that the $321m Gen. Sani Abacha loot soon be repatriated to Nigeria must be placed in an account and must not be stolen.
The US said Nigeria would be made to replace the money if stolen.
Spokesperson for the US State Department, Morgan Ortagus, said in a statement this was one of the agreements between the US, Nigeria and the Island of Jersey, where the funds are being kept.
The statement read in part, “The funds will be used by the Nigerian Independent Sovereign Authority for three infrastructure projects in strategic economic zones across Nigeria.
“To ensure that the funds are used responsibly and for the good of the nation, the agreement includes mechanisms for monitoring the implementation of these projects as well as external oversight, and it requires Nigeria to repay any funds lost as a result of any new corruption or fraud to the account established to hold the returned assets.
“This return reflects the growing international consensus that countries must work together to ensure stolen assets are returned in a transparent and accountable manner.”
The US said the arrangement was consistent with the commitments both the US and Nigeria made under the principles agreed to at the 2017 Global Forum on Asset Recovery co-hosted by the US and the United Kingdom.
The statement said, “This agreement is a symbol of the weight that the United States government places on the fight against corruption. We welcome President Buhari’s personal commitment to that fight, and we will continue to support civil society and other Nigerian efforts to combat corruption at all levels. The fight against corruption is an investment in the future of Nigeria.”
Abacha, who ruled Nigeria between 1993 and 1998, is believed to have diverted over $4bn from the nation’s treasury.
Over $1bn has been recovered from his loot so far.
However, there have been rumours that the funds have not been properly managed by successive governments.
‘Loot to fund Lagos-Ibadan, 2nd Niger Bridge’
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has said the Abacha loot will be spent on repairing the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Abuja-Kano Road and Second Niger Bridge.
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami (SAN), said this during the signing of a tripartite agreement with the United States and Island of New Jersey for the repatriation of the fund to Nigeria in Washington DC on Tuesday.
According to him, the three projects will help boost economic growth of the country.
He said, “The government of Nigeria has committed that the assets will support and assist in expediting the construction of three major infrastructure projects across Nigeria – the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Abuja-Kano Road and Second Niger Bridge.
“These projects are being executed under the supervision of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority as a Public Private Partnership that will boost economic growth and help alleviate poverty by connecting people and supply chains from the East to the West and to the northern part of Nigeria, a vast area covering several kilometres with millions of the country’s population set to benefit from the road infrastructure.”
He also called on civil society organisations and the Nigerian public to be involved in the monitoring of the usage of the recovered fund in the implementation of the key infrastructure projects.
The Solicitor General and Attorney General-designate of Jersey, Mark Temple, said the agreement “represents the culmination of two decades of intensive work by law officers in Jersey, the United States and Nigeria”, adding that “the return of the money to Nigeria had been delayed by a number of hard-fought challenges by third parties which were defeated in the Courts in Jersey and the United States”.
He said the money “will be subject to monitoring and reporting obligations”.
Jersey’s Minister for External Relations, Senator Ian Gorst, said, “Since becoming aware that the alleged proceeds of Abacha corruption and money laundering had passed through Jersey’s financial institutions, the Jersey authorities have done everything within their power to investigate what happened and to return the money to its rightful owners, the people of Nigeria.”

Buhari appoints Prof. Saad Ahmed as CMD FMC Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Prof, Saad Ahmed as the new Chief Medical Director, Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi, Abuja.

According to a statement released on Wednesday by Eunice Akro, Assistant Director, Press and Publicity in the Ministry of Health, (FMOH), in Abuja, the appointment, of Ahmed takes effect on Feb. 16, 2020.

Congratulating the medical director on his appointment, the Minister, Sen. Olorunnimbe Mamora, asked Ahmed to do his best at improving on the achievements already attained at the hospital.

Mamora advised him to focus more on service performance in order to build public trust in the health sector.

“This can be achieved by treating patients with respect. Also, work in harmony with all stakeholders in the sector and Nigerians,” he advised.

He urged him to work harmoniously with the Board members in order to surpass the legacy that was already in place at the hospital as this would go a long way to justify the confidence reposed in him by the President Buhari.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Board of the FMC, Jabi, Dr Alex Ideh thanked the FMoH for the support demonstrated during the process which led to the appointment, while pledging the cooperation of the Board to the new MD to enable him succeed in his mandate.

NAN, report that before his appointment as FCM CMD, Ahmed was a Professor of Pathology with the Ahmadu Bello University Nigeria, Zaria, Kaduna State.
He also specialises in Anatomic pathology.