Category: Foreign

YOUR entry into Kenya will depend on the purpose of travel and the authenticity of the visa documents provided.

The following documents will be required for all Kenya visa types:

A valid Nigerian passport (must be valid for at least six months).

Photocopies of the applicants Nigerian passport’s biodata page showing the applicant’s passport number and picture.

A Kenyan visa application form: properly filled and duly signed.

Two recently taken passport size photograph of the applicant.

Proof of financial status (six months’ bank statement).

Letter of introduction.

Tax clearance.

Family pictures.

Visa processing fees.

Marriage certificate

Proof of vaccination against Yellow Fever and Cholera.

Types of Kenyan visas:

There are different categories of Kenyan visa travellers can apply for. The Kenya visa is required for Nigerians to gain entry into the country. The various visa categories for Kenya are:

Single Journey or Ordinary Visa; Transit Visa; Multiple Journey Visa; Service Visa and Courtesy Visa.

Our Reporter

 

 

INTERNATIONAL concern about the spread of coronavirus outside China grew yesterday with sharp rises in infections in South Korea, Italy and Iran.

The government in Seoul, according to Reuters,  put the country on high alert after the number of infections surged over 600 with six deaths. A focal point was a church in the southeastern city of Daegu, where a 61-year-old member of the congregation with no recent record of overseas travel tested positive for the virus.

In Italy, the number of cases jumped to above 130 from just three before Friday. Authorities sealed off the worst affected towns and banned public gatherings in much of the north, including halting the carnival in Venice, where there were two cases, to try to contain the biggest outbreak in Europe.

Italian health authorities were struggling to find out how the virus started. “If we cannot find ‘patient zero’ then it means the virus is even more ubiquitous than we thought,” said Luca Zaia, the regional governor of the wealthy Veneto region.

Iran, which announced its first two cases on Wednesday, said it had confirmed 43 cases and eight deaths, with most of the infections in the Shi’ite Muslim holy city of Qom.

An annual mass wedding ceremony in the Philippines saw face masks and health checks included in the proceedings this year.

The precautions have been brought in due to the threat of coronavirus.

The city of Bacolod, Philippines saw 220 couples married in the government-sponsored event.

China, which has seen the vast majority of cases, reported 648 new infections. But only 18 were outside of Hubei province, the lowest number outside the epicentre since authorities began publishing data a month ago and locked down large parts of the country.

“At present, the epidemic situation is still severe and complex, and prevention and control work is in the most difficult and critical stage,” President Xi Jinping said.

State run television urged people to avoid complacency, drawing attention to people gathering in public areas and tourist spots without wearing masks.

The virus has killed 2,442 people in China, which has reported 76,936 cases, and has slammed the brakes on the world’s second largest economy. It has spread to some 26 other countries and territories, with a death toll of around two dozen, according to a Reuters tally.

In South Korea, Catholic churches in Daegu and Gwangju have suspended services and other gatherings, while churches elsewhere saw declines in attendance yesterday, especially among the elderly.

“If the situation gets worse, I think we’ll need to take more measures,” said Song Gi-young, 53, wearing a face mask at church.

It also enables the government to forcibly prevent public activities and order the temporary closure of schools, the Yonhap News Agency said, although the government gave no immediate details on what steps could be taken.

Health officials reported 169 new infections, bringing the total to 602. Concern about the reach of the coronavirus also grew in Europe and the Middle East.

In Italy, schools and universities were closed and some soccer matches postponed in the affected northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto, the country’s industrial heartland.

Almost a dozen towns in Lombardy and Veneto with a combined population of some 50,000 have effectively been placed under quarantine, with locals urged to stay home and special permission needed to enter or leave the designated areas.

The European Union said it had confidence in the Italian authorities. “We share concern for possible contagion (but) there is no need to panic,” the bloc’s Economic Affairs Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni told reporters.

Iran reported a total of 43 infections, with eight deaths – all since Tuesday. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Turkey and Afghanistan imposed travel and immigration restrictions on Iran.

The potential economic impact of the disease was prominent at a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Riyadh.

The International Monetary Fund chief said China’s 2020 growth would likely be lower at 5.6%, down 0.4 percentage points from its January outlook, with 0.1 percentage points shaved from global growth.

Xi highlighted the importance of fighting the epidemic in the capital Beijing, which has recently required people arriving from elsewhere in China to be quarantined at home for 14 days.

He said it would have a relatively big, but short-term impact on the economy and that Beijing would step up policy adjustments to help cushion the blow.

In Japan, where the government is facing growing questions about whether it is doing enough to counter the virus, authorities had confirmed 773 cases by early yesterday evening.

Most of them were from a cruise ship quarantined near Tokyo, the Diamond Princess. A third passenger, a Japanese man in his 80s, died yesterday.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe instructed government agencies to urgently prepare medical provisions and draft a comprehensive plan to curb the spread.

Our Reporter

 

POPE Francis on Sunday warned against “inequitable solutions” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying they would only be a prelude to new crises, in an apparent reference to United States (U.S.) President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace proposal.

Francis made his comments in the southern Italian port city of Bari, where he travelled to conclude a meeting of bishops from all countries in the Mediterranean basin.

“The Mediterranean region is currently threatened by outbreaks of instability and conflict, both in the Middle East and different countries of North Africa, as well as between various ethnic, religious or confessional groups,” Francis said.

“Nor can we overlook the still unresolved conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, with the danger of inequitable solutions and, hence, a prelude to new crises,” he said.

The participants included Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the head of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, whose jurisdiction includes Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan.

It was believed to be the first time the pope, who has often defended both Palestinian rights and Israel’s need for security, has spoken in public about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since Trump announced the plan on Jan. 28.

 

By Sanni Onogu and Victor Oluwasegun, Abuja

SENATE President  Ahmad Lawan has urged Finland to collaborate with Nigeria in the area of Hi Technology and trade.

Lawan spoke on Thursday when the Ambassador of Finland in Nigeria, Dr. Jyrki Pulkkinen, visited his office.

“Finland and Nigeria have gone a long way in terms of the diplomatic relationship since about 1963. Since then, Nigeria and Finland have been friends.

“There is something that we know about you. And that is to collaborate with the Hi-Tech country that you are.

“And Nigeria today is looking for Hi-Tech. In fact, recently the Ministry of Communications was renamed as Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy. That is to emphasise the need for Nigeria to go the Hi-Tech way as well.

“We need our friends who are in hi-tech like your country to help us develop to that level that we dream of reaching,” Lawan said.

The Senate President told his guest that Nigeria is going through some challenges that so much require the application of technology to overcome.

Dr. Pulkkinen, said his mission was to inform the Senate President of the impending visit to Nigeria of a parliamentary committee on Finance from Finland.

House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila also on Thursday reiterated the determination of the House of Representatives to partner with stakeholders to reposition the country’s education as one of the best in the world.

According to Gbajabiamila, education has always been of top priority to the government, which is desirous of building a solid education foundation for the future.

Gbajabiamila spoke while hosting the Finland Ambassador.

He noted that the House is taking legislative steps aimed at propelling Nigerian into one of the top educationally advanced countries in the world.

Pulkkinen had also informed the Speaker about the visit of Finland’s House Committee on Finance to Nigeria next month on a working visit aimed at exchanging ideas.

According to the Ambassador, Finland being globally noted for its strides in education and technology is also reputed for its tax system which has 96 per cent of its citizens paying tax happily.

He said the country is looking at having an economic engagement with Nigeria, being the biggest on the African continent.

Appreciating Finland’s strides in the tax system, technology and education, Gbajabiamila said: “Finland is known for its education, the secret of how you do it, only you know but we are glad you are willing to share with Nigeria.

Our Reporter

THE investigation into a deadly gun attack in Hanau is focusing on whether others knew about or helped organise it, Germany’s federal prosecutor Peter Frank said.

The suspect shot dead nine people “of migrant background” at two shisha bars on Wednesday evening. He and his mother were later found dead in his flat.

Frank said material the suspect Tobias R had posted online showed a “deeply racist mindset”.

He had also been influenced by conspiracy theories, Frank said.

Earlier, Chancellor Angela Merkel said there were many signs Tobias R, 43, had acted out of racism.

Speaking in Berlin, Mrs. Merkel said: “Racism is a poison. Hate is a poison and this poison exists in our society and is already to blame for many crimes.”

Turkey said at least five of the dead were Turkish citizens. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he expected Germany to “throw light on all aspects” of the attack.

Nazi salutes, banned swastika emblems and even the playing of the Horst Wessel, the one-time Nazi “anthem” – all have been cropping up in far-right extremist circles as Germany struggles to contain a growing wave of home-grown extremism.

Read Also: Buhari condoles with Germany over Munich shootings

The problem has been particularly acute in – but not confined to – the east of the country, in the former East Germany. There, unemployment levels have been higher than in the rest of Germany and a simmering resentment, by some, of the recent immigrant arrivals has manifested itself in arson attacks on hostels.

Frank said six people had also been injured in the attack, one of them seriously.

Shortly after the attacks, the suspect and his 72-year-old mother were found in his apartment, both also shot. A gun was found next to the suspect’s body.

Frank said investigators wanted to establish any links the suspect may have had in Germany or potentially also abroad.

Our Reporter

THE streets of South Korea’s fourth-largest city were abandoned yesterday, with residents holed up indoors after dozens of people caught the coronavirus in what the authorities described as a “super-spreading event” at a church.

The deserted shopping malls and cinemas of Daegu, a city of 2.5 million people, became one of the most striking images outside China of an outbreak that international authorities are trying to prevent from spreading into a global pandemic.

New research suggesting the virus was more contagious than previously thought added to the alarm. And in China, where the virus has killed more than 2,100 people, officials changed their methodology for reporting infections, creating new doubt about data they have cited as evidence their strategy is working.

READ Also: Two passengers of coronavirus-infected ship die in Japan

Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin told residents to stay indoors after 90 people who worshipped at the Church of Jesus the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony showed symptoms of infection and dozens of new cases were confirmed.

South Korea now has 104 confirmed cases of the flu-like virus, and reported its first death.

In China, officials have been pointing to evidence that new cases are declining as proof they are succeeding in keeping the virus largely contained to Hubei province and its capital, Wuhan, where the virus initially emerged.

Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria Shimon Ben-Shoshan and Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun yesterday met at the Israeli Embassy in Abuja to discuss the way forward in advancing business interests between the state and the Middle East country.

The governor, who explained the mantra of his government to the envoy, said the vision was to provide qualitative leadership that would create a conducive environment for public private partnership, which was considered fundamental for economic growth and individual prosperity of the people.

He added that the state is blessed with the largest deposit of solid minerals, adding that one third of the entire state has limestone deposit.

Abiodun solicited for a synergy between the Israeli embassy, its business community and Ogun State in the exchange of information and capacity-building.

“We are also looking for how to collaborate in the area of capacity-building and exchange of information,” he said.

The governor revealed that the state has over the last eight months of his administration, introduced reforms like the State Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency to showcase the comparative advantages in all spectrums of economic activities,  set up the State Business Environment Council to eliminate bottlenecks, red-tape and multiple taxation as well as the State Public Private Partnership office to coordinate partnerships that meet international best practices and to improve its ease doing business index.

Read Also: World Bank approves $250m facility for Ogun

The governor  outlined other steps that his administration was taking to drive local and foreign investments into Ogun State  including provision of infrastructure and security, among others.

According to the governor, the meeting also availed them the opportunity to get first-hand updates on the expected effects of the work his administration was doing to improve the state’s ease of doing business.

Also present at the parsley were Dr. Segun Fagboyegun, MD/CEO, JOF Nigeria and Eyal Mesika, Founder/CEO, EMI Systems Ltd.