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Tag: UK

  • UK firm holds fair Nov. 25

    A UNITED Kingdom-based company, ACE Event Management, will exhibit its products at the West Africa Building and Construction fair Abuja from November 25 to 27.

    The event will include seminars on water and sanitation and building, and construction.

    It said the exhibition was successful last year, adding that the firm counts on the support of Federal Ministries, Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), Nigeria Water & Sanitation Association and the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE).

    In a statement the firm said: “The Water Africa and West Africa Building and Construction exhibition showcases machinery, tools and techniques for the housing and infrastructure construction sector. It aims to help those providing civil engineering and housing projects in West Africa to see new materials and machinery for use in construction and talk to experts on how best to use them.

    “On the water and sanitation side, the exhibition and seminars offer an opportunity for companies to again put their products and services before purchasers from states and local governments, industry, agriculture, NGOs and other key players from the West Africa region.

    “A good number of the exhibitors at these exhibitions are often new to the West African market and will be looking for local partners to help them sell and distribute their products and services here. There is great potential for business to be done at both shows and exciting new products and services to be seen and discussed,” it said.

  • Maritime security: Africa, U.S, UK naval chiefs meet in Calabar

    Naval chiefs from Africa, the United States and the United Kingdom converged on Calabar on Monday to strategise on ways to ensure a safe and secure maritime environment in the Gulf of Guinea.

    The News agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting, expected to end on Wednesday, had no fewer than 14 African naval chiefs in attendance at the Tinapa Lakeside Hotel.

    In his opening remarks, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Adm. Dele Ezeoba, said the meeting was called because of challenges and threats to the economic interests of states in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG).

    He said GoG strategic location informed the decision to collaborate on the security of the region and the convocation of the first Regional Maritime Awareness Capability Conference (RMACC) in Calabar.

    Ezeoba said the GoG had become a source of concern to the region and the international community given its myriad of security challenges.

    He said the threats on regional security included piracy, sea robbery, drug and human trafficking, pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft.

    Ezeoba also listed illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, proliferation of small arms and light weapons and environmental degradation as sources of threats in the GoG.

    “Regrettably, these threats constitute serious challenges and adversely impact on the collective maritime governance imperatives and economic wellbeing of nation states in the GoG.

    “It is, therefore, imperative to emphasise that no meaningful development can take place in an atmosphere of insecurity within the global commons.

    “As discomforting as these threats would appear, they are not insurmountable hence the clarion call for the enthronement of constructive, proactive, sustainable and holistic maritime security architecture.

    “Such structure would ensure a secure and safe maritime environment for optimal exploration and exploitation of the abundant maritime resources.

    “These resources are germane for socio-economic growth and national development of the sub-Saharan Africa while providing economic opportunities for the rest of the world,’’ Ezeoba said.

    Ezeoba said the security of the GoG should be anchored on the Yaounde declaration “within the context of extant code of conduct, protocols and memoranda of understanding of the GoG commission, ECOWAS and ECCAS’’.

    “It is only logical that we also place maritime security on the top rungs of our national security priorities.

    “An effective maritime security regime in the GoG must be pitched on core attributes such as the elimination of sea blindness within the African continent, sincerity of purpose, strength of character and above all, the political will of all member-states and stakeholders.”

     

  • ‘How we saved Nigerian lawyers’practice in UK’

    ‘How we saved Nigerian lawyers’practice in UK’

    THE amendment of the 1999 Constitution has begun apace, with the Senate and House of Representatives voting on some key issues.

    Both chambers took opposing positions on two major issues, which many believe require urgent amendment – minimum wage and local government autonomy. The Senate voted in favour of removing the minimum wage from the Exclusive Legislative List and transferring it to the Concurrent List. It voted against autonomy for the 774 Local Government Areas.

    The House of Representatives voted against both issues. It voted for the retention of minimum wage as a federal affair, and called for autonomy for local governments.

    Although both houses are expected to set up a harmonisation committee to straighten the areas of differences, observers believe that the development has reawakened the argument on whether the nation is ready to confront its fears and go for restructuring.

    Item 34 of the Exclusive Legislative List confers on the National Assembly the exclusive powers to legislate on labour matters including prescribing a national minimum wage.

    It was pursuant to this provision that the National Assembly enacted the 2011 National Minimum Wage Act, fixing the minimum wage at N18,000.

    Section 7(1) of the Constitution provides for a local government system with its officials democratically elected. The second arm of the provision makes the establishment, structure, composition, finance of the local governments dependent on the state governments.

    The opponents of local governments autonomy said the provision for a joint state/local government account, into which funds standing to the credit of both levels of government are paid, allows for a form of control of the management of the funds allocated to local governments.

    Those seeking autonomy for the third tier of government argue that the retention of the status quo negates the principles of true federalism and further supports the call for a restructuring of the country.

    They also argued that the Senate’s decision to liberalise labour issues, by moving the minimum wage to the Concurent List will reduce the current over centralisation of national affairs in a supposed federal state.

    To them, the provision of a national minimum wage in the Constitution, and some similar other provisions, conflict with the true meaning of federation in practice.

    Their argument is anchored on the fact that the arrangement that allows an overbearing federal structure on the state government and the state government’s dominance of the local government do not reflect the country as a true federation as defined by the Supreme Court in the case of Attorney-General of Abia State vs the Attorney-General of the Federation and 33 others (2006) 7 SC (part 1) page 51 at 72.

    In the decision, the Supreme Court described federalism, both as legal and political concepts, to imply an association of states, formed for certain and defined common purpose or purposes, with the states retaining a large portion of their original independence and autonomy.

    Some are opposed to the approach to constitution amendment. They argued that the way the National Assembly is going about the amendment suggests that the country is yet to decide on what it wants.

    They described the approach as a timid attempt at tackling the nation’s fundamental problems.

    In particular, they queried the rationale behind the provision of pension for Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives and their deputies by a National Assembly whose members’ pay had been described as scandalous, and second to none on earth.

    They argued that a National Assembly that means well should be bothered by the social and economic rights and privileges provided for in Chapter Two of the Constitution which have remained nonjusticeable over 50 years after independence.

    Critics said until there is a major push for genuine constitution amendment, the current crop of leaders, who see the constitution review process as a routine project and an avenue of squandering public funds, would persist in their deception and only amend the Constitution to confer undue advantage on them.

    Lawyers, including Prof Ben Nwabueze (SAN), Tunji Abayomi, Dr. Albert Tvon, Ikechukwu Ikeji and the Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja, Lagos, Monday Ubani said the nation requires a new approach to constitution making and a departure from the current window dressing embarked upon by the National Assembly.

    Prof Nwabueze suggested that the country do away with the 1999 Constitution and in its place, enact “a peoples Constitution.”

    The constitutional law expert spoke in Awka, the Anambra State capital, at the weekend during the presentation of his autobiography: “Ben Nwabueze: His life, works and times.”

    He argued that the 1999 Constitution can not pass as the people’s Supreme Law because its source of supremacy is not the Nigerian people.

    “What we have as the 1999 Constitution is not the Supreme Law. What is its source of supremacy? The military? No! It can’t be. The source of supremacy everywhere in the world is the people.”

    He insisted that the people could only provide for themselves a true Constitution through a national conference that will fashion out a constitution that is truly sourced from the people.

    “The constitution so framed will then be out through a referendum. That is the challenge before this country,” Nwabueze said.

    Abayomi argued that both chambers were engaging in an exercise in futility.

    To him, no amount of amendment would confer legitimacy on a Constitution foisted on the people by a departing military, without powers to so act.

    In separate July 17 letters to the Senate President David Mark and House Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, Abayomi said: “Democracy is based on the principle of self-government. The foundation of such self-government is always found in a Constitution made by the people. And a valid Constitution is always presumed to predate government, which again, is deemed to be its consequence.

    “A Legislature, which is presumed to represent the people’s will is at the core of democracy principally because it is presumed to act as the agent of the people in realising and affirming their will.

    “Legislative authority is only valid if it is based on the consent of the people and if it is used to promote their desire,” Abayomi said.

    He queried the powers of the National Assembly to make Constitution for the people. He argued that every attempt to amend the current constitution by the law makers will always end in failure.

    “It is, indeed, sad that the National Assembly under the present leadership is always inclined to surface dress national problem at high abnormal cost that grows out of largely selfish desires instead of fundamental sacrifices that will honour today and enhance tomorrow.”

    Abayomi argued that as the law making delegates of the people, the National Assembly could only pass a law enabling the people to give to themselves a Constitution; set the terms, parameters and modalities to aid the people in the task of producing their Constitution.

    Tvon argued that the call for a change in the constitutional reality should not be limited to political demand for restructuring, but must include economic demand for greater equality and ability to meet the second generation of rights as enunciated by the United Nation’s Declaration on Human Rights.

    “One key question here is in what direction should the economy be driven? What should be the role of the state in socio-economic planning?

    Aside from the core issues of restructuring and true federalism, which the Senate has failed to address in its constitutional amendment efforts till date, there is the need to address the people’s expectation that. the state has the responsibility of meeting its social and moral obligation to its people,” Tvon said.

    He wondered how the Nigerian state hopes to command the people’s patriotic spirit when it has continued to fail in its responsibilities.

    Ikeji did not only fault the subtle support the Senators have given to under age marriage in the name of religion, he argued that their refusal of the Senate to vote for true federalism is a set back on the nation’s march towards proper democracy.

    “The phrase ‘people’s constitution’ is not a mere law. It connotes the source of all laws, pretending that it must have a direct deliberate input by the people. The fundamental issue to address in the Nigerian constitution is the question of legitimacy.

    “The Nigerian Constitution tells a lie against itself and the Nigerian people and except this is addressed, we are merely deceiving ourselves. The Constitution lied when it said, in its preamble, that the people of Nigeria made it.

    “It is public knowledge that the Constitution is a Decree, more specifically, Decree No. 24 of 1999 made directly by the military regime of General Abdusalam Abubakar who just imposed it on us without reference to our views.

    “The Constitution also lied when it referred to Nigeria as the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We all know that Nigeria is presently far from being a federation as it is more of unitary government exerting strong controls from the centre in Abuja than from the constituent States.

    “The present Nigerian structure has stronger centripetal forces than centrifugal forces. So, any constitutional review or amendment that does not address these fundamental flaws is an exercise in deception and futility.

    “To midwife a people’s Constitution, we must engage in a deliberate constitutional conference, more like a sovereign national conference whose results shall be subject to a referendum.

    The present Constitution lacks authochthoneity since it lacks the imprimatur of the people,” Ikeji said.

    Ubani described the present process of constitutional amendment going on as a “patch patch mechanism” incapable to effecting the much needed restructuring.

    “The people’s constitution can only be midwifed by the pple themselves, not what is presently going on where the people’s wish and aspirations are at variance with the legislators in the country

    “Their amendments and proposals rather deepen democracy will destroy it. “Any amendment of the of the constitution that does not reflect the peoples’ wish is null and void and of no effect. The constitution being the Supreme Law of the land must proceed from the people.

    “A sovereign national conference out of which a constituent assembly will spring from to draw up a people’s constitution will be best way to produce the peoples’ constitution. For example now, we are wasting our time, money and energy in this amendment process. It will not take us far and that is the fact,” Ubani said.

     

  • UK £3,000 visa bond to begin in November

    UK £3,000 visa bond to begin in November

    Despite British Prime Minister David Cameron’s assurance that he will not sanction the controversial 3000 pounds visa bond, his government last weekend insisted it would begin the trial this November. The visa is to restrict some visitors from India, Nigeria, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

    They will have to pay the cash bond in return for visitor visas that allow them to stay in the UK for up to six months.

    At the height of the controversy, David Cameron’s administration assured that he would not sanction the policy. But last weekend, FT said: “Britain is pressing ahead with its trial of a scheme to make visitors from six countries pay a £3,000 bond, despite an international backlash and complaints from businesses. The government said it would begin a pilot in November to impose visa restrictions on six Commonwealth nations, including India and Nigeria, even though David Cameron poured cold water on the scheme in June after it provoked uproar in Delhi.”

    “The Prime Minister has not cleared this policy. He doesn’t want to do anything that cuts across the message he took to India,” an ally of Mr. Cameron had told The Financial Times at the time.

    The British government has reportedly decided to go ahead with it though the Home Office insisted that it was meant to target only “high-risk” applicants.

    An official told media that the scheme would be “highly selective”, targeting only “suspicious” applicants.

    Under a “pilot” scheme, to be introduced in November, first-time visitors from six non-white Commonwealth countries, including India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, will be required to deposit a cash bond of £3,000 for a British visa. It will apply only to those seeking a six-month visitors’ visa.

    According to the government, these six countries pose the “most significant risk of abuse’’ of visas by their citizens.

    “In the long run, we are interested in a system of bonds that deters overstaying and recovers costs if a foreign national has used our public services,” the Home Office said.

    The move comes barely weeks after Mr. Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg were reported to have refused to clear the scheme in its present form, fearing that the backlash in India and Nigeria threatened to damage bilateral relations at a time when Britain is desperately trying to woo Indian investors and tourists.

    Cameron was reported as saying that he would “not sanction’’ any policy that was likely to undermine his push for investment.

    The Financial Times said that the u-turn had provoked anger in Britain’s business circles, who described the plan as an “insulting deterrent” to wealthy tourists from countries like India and Nigeria.

    “They are urging the government to drop the pilot, saying the restrictions will damage their business if Commonwealth tourists, particularly Nigerians, now the sixth biggest spenders on luxury goods in Britain, are put off,” it said.

  • Dangote, U.S., UK move to help Nigeria break black gold’s curse

    Dangote, U.S., UK move to help Nigeria break black gold’s curse

    Foreign governments, such as the United States, and private companies, led by Dangote, lead efforts to help Nigeria see beyond petro-dollars, writes Reuters

    Down a winding dirt track in this sleepy village in northern Nigeria lies a corn farm which looks much like the dozens that surround it. The difference is, this one is turning a profit.

    “I can barely lift my 8-year-old. He’s the fattest in the village,” said Ibrahim Mustapha, 50, drawing laughter from his fellow farmers as he pretends to lift up his chubby son.

    The Babban Gona or “Great Farm” project, in northern Kaduna state, is one of a handful where private investment is helping former subsistence farmers like Mustapha make profits for themselves and the companies backing them.

    When President Goodluck Jonathan was elected two years ago, he pledged reforms that would transform the lives of tens of millions of farmers who live on less than $2 a day despite occupying some of Africa’s most fertile land.

    Oil remains the main source of foreign currency and state revenues, but agriculture is by far the biggest contributor to GDP, making up 40 percent of Africa’s second largest economy.

    With 170 million mouths to feed and a growing food import bill thanks to the disarray in the farming sector, agriculture ministry officials say there’s no time to lose.

    If productivity does not improve Nigeria could face a food crisis within a decade, its current account surplus would be wiped out and the credit worthiness of Africa’s second biggest debt issuer would be under threat.

    “If we did nothing, it would be a disaster,” Agriculture Minister Akinwumi Adesina told Reuters in the capital.

    “We don’t eat oil, we don’t drink it … We cannot sustain the amount of money we use to import food,” Adesina said, a Nigerian flag hanging behind his office chair.

    In some cases, the imports substitute for things Nigerians are growing but can’t get to market or lack the means to process.

    The country is the second largest grower of citrus fruit in the world after China and yet it spends $200 million a year on imported fruit juice while its own produce rots, Adesina said.

    It also produces 1.5 million metric tons (1 metric ton = 1.1023 tons) of tomatoes annually of which 45 percent perish, while consumers spend $360 million on tomato paste imported from countries such as Italy and China.

     

    CURING DUTCH DISEASE

     

    To succeed, Adesina’s reforms will need to reverse the inadvertent damage done to the sector by Africa’s earliest and biggest oil and gas boom, which crowded out other commodities.

    In the 1960s, Nigeria was the biggest exporter of peanuts in the world and had 27 percent of the palm oil trade. It remains one of the world’s top cocoa growers, but production and bean quality have declined since their heyday in the 1970s.

    While an elite allied to a series of military dictatorships grew rich on the spoils of the energy sector, millions of mostly subsistence farmers were given little or no help at all.

    The result: Nigeria is now the world’s second largest importer of rice and the biggest buyer of U.S. wheat, while much of its own fertile land lies fallow. A booming population has sent its food import bill rocketing to around $11 billion a year – equivalent to more than a third of the federal budget.

    Agriculture also offers the best chance to cut unemployment, which feeds an Islamist insurgency in the north and oil theft in the south. Unemployment is 23 percent and youth unemployment double that, national statistics suggest.

    “Poverty is the source of a lot of the insecurity problems we have. A hungry man is an angry man,” Adesina said.

    The minister plans to create 3.5 million new jobs in agriculture and boost food production by 20 million metric tons by 2015, the year of the next national election.

    To achieve this, he wants to boost access to microfinance for farmers and draw in $10 billion of foreign investment into farming and food processing.

    He has received tentative praise for early successes from foreign diplomats, bankers and aid agencies, but big agro-business projects have yet to take off.

    Adesina took a corrupt fertiliser subsidy out of politicians’ hands and now farmers are texted subsidy vouchers directly to their mobile phones so they can recoup from fertiliser sellers, a policy used in Kenya’s farming reforms.

    Seventy percent of farmers now receive subsidised fertiliser and seeds, compared with 11 percent under the corrupt program previously run by state governments, Adesina said.

     

    LONG ROAD AHEAD

     

    Production of rice, cassava, wheat, sorghum, and corn are rising and cocoa, Nigeria’s most important export crop, looks set to go up by more than a third this season.

    In 2012, agriculture exports rose by 128 billion naira ($788 million) and food imports fell by 850 billion, Adesina says.

    Foreign investors such as food giant Cargill, seed company Syngenta, brewer SABMiller and Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote are planning to build everything from fertiliser plants to food processing factories.

    Yet rice imports still soak up $7 million a day, while poor infrastructure and policy flip-flopping have in the past seen farming potential wasted. Farmers needs infrastructure to get goods to market — and rural Nigeria’s is as woeful as it gets.

    Nigerian billionaire Dangote has pledged to spend $35 million on a tomato paste plant in the northern city of Kano and $45 million in Cross River State to process pineapple juice.

    Adesina says he has received $8 billion in commitments but such promises are often not kept in Nigeria. Cargill and SABMiller told Reuters they are only “considering” investing.

    “I would estimate that no more than one dollar of investment actually occurs for every $100 of announced commitments,” said Fola Fagbule, an Africa-focused investment banker in Lagos.

    A central bank initiative has issued guarantees on around 25 billion naira of agriculture loans since it began in July last year, lifting lending to the sector to around 4 percent of total loans, from 1.5 percent at end-2009, the bank says.

    The World Bank is putting in $100 million into agriculture, while British and U.S. aid projects pump in tens of millions.

    This barely scratches the $10 billion Adesina says the sector needs by 2015. Smallholders say banks still don’t lend to them, while the scheme doles out cheap money to big firms.

    “We’ve heard it all before and I have never seen it get better,” says Alhaji, a farmer wrestling with two scrawny long-horned cows dragging a rusty plough through a field.

    “I have 15 children and … we barely get enough food to feed ourselves,” he said.

     

    BEARING FRUIT?

     

    A few success stories nonetheless give cause for optimism.

    Farmer Mustapha says he made $1,350 per hectare from his harvest after paying back private firm Doreo Partners, which runs the Babban Gona project, compared to previous years where he might earn $200 per hectare.

    “Now I want to grow my farm, I have so much space I never used. Now I will send my children to school,” he said, while behind him mostly unused farmland stretched to the horizon.

    Doreo is working with 600 farmers. It has ambitious plans to boost this to 500,000 by 2020, and 5 million by 2030.

    “I know it sounds ambitious but it’s been done elsewhere and Nigeria has so much easy-to-reach potential,” said Kola Masha, the company’s head.

    Masha is attempting to emulate giant food cooperatives like CHS in the U.S. or India’s dairy franchise Amul, who make huge profits while helping millions of smallholder farmers.

    He gives farmers high-quality fertilizer, seeds, equipment and expertise on credit to massively increase their yields, while negotiating with firms like Nestle to buy the produce at higher prices than the farmers could get themselves.

    Farmers working with Masha, he said, are using 40 times more fertilizer than neighbors who could never afford that amount.

    “It’s early days but I’m more optimistic than I’ve ever been,” he said.

     

  • UK government backs three-person IVF

    UK government backs three-person IVF

    The United Kingdom looks set to become the first country to allow the creation of babies using DNA from three people, after the government backed the IVF technique, BBC reports.

    It would produce draft regulations later this year and the procedure could be offered within two years.

    Experts say three-person IVF could eliminate debilitating and potentially fatal mitochondrial diseases that are passed on from mother to child.

    Opponents say it is unethical and could set the UK on a “slippery slope.”

    They also argue that affected couples could adopt or use egg donors instead.

    Mitochondria are the tiny, biological “power stations” that give the body energy. They are passed from a mother, through the egg, to her child.

    Defective mitochondria affect one in every 6,500 babies. This can leave them starved of energy, resulting in muscle weakness, blindness, heart failure and death in the most extreme cases.

    Research suggests that using mitochondria from a donor egg can prevent the diseases.

    It is envisaged that up to 10 couples a year would benefit from the treatment.

    However, it would result in babies having DNA from two parents and a tiny amount from a third donor as the mitochondria themselves have their own DNA.

     

  • No final decision on £3,000 visa bond, says UK envoy

    No final decision on £3,000 visa bond, says UK envoy

    Nigeria protested yesterday the planned £3,000 (about N750,000) visa bond for its citizens traveling to the United Kingdom.

    Minister of Foreign Affairs Olugbenga Ashiru told the UK High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Andrew Pocock, that the UK should reconsider the policy or Nigeria might be forced to take appropriate measures to protect the interest of Nigerians

    He said the UK policy would undermine the spirit of the Commonwealth of Nations.

    Besides, he claimed that the policy will hinder Nigeria and the UK plans to double the volume of bilateral trade.

    Ashiru met with the High Commissioner, who said the policy, if eventually implemented, would affect a small number of honest risk visitors in Abuja.

    A statement on what transpired by the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ogbole Amedu Ode, reads: “The Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olugbenga A. Ashiru, MFR, summoned the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Andrew Pocock, to his office on Tuesday, 25th June 2013, over the proposal by the UK Government to impose a £3,000 ‘cash bond’ on first-time visa applicants from Nigeria, and other selected countries of the Commonwealth, which are regarded as “High Risk” countries.

    “At the meeting, which was held at the Tafawa Balewa House, the Honourable Minister expressed the strong displeasure of the government and people of Nigeria over the policy, which he described as not only discriminatory but also capable of undermining the spirit of the Commonwealth family.

    “The Honourable Minister recalled with nostalgia, the times when nationals of the Commonwealth travelled freely to the UK and to other member states. This, no doubt, deepened the strong historical bonds between the peoples of the various countries who were all regarded at that time as Commonwealth citizens. He further recalled that this time-honoured practice was unilaterally jettisoned by the UK Government in 1985, thereby weakening the bonds of the Commonwealth family.

    “The Honourable Minister further opined that the proposed policy would definitely negate the joint commitment by Prime Minister David Cameron and President Goodluck Jonathan to double the volume of bilateral trade between the two countries by 2014, just as it would hinder people-to-people contacts, which is one of the cardinal principles of the Commonwealth.

    “Ambassador Ashiru pointed out that the decision of the UK Government is coming at the time the Commonwealth Foreign Ministers have unanimously recommended for adoption at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) holding in Colombo, Sri Lanka in November 2013, a proposal to remove visa requirements for holders of Official and Diplomatic Passports from member states.

    “The Honourable Minister, therefore, called on the UK Government to reconsider the proposed policy, which is incompatible with the strong and cordial relations built over the years between the UK and Nigeria.

    “He however informed the British High Commissioner that the Federal Government of Nigeria has a responsibility to take appropriate measures to protect the interest of Nigerians who may be affected by the proposed policy, if finally introduced.”

    The Sunday Times reported that from November, a pilot scheme would target visitors from Nigeria, Bangladesh, Sri-Lanka, Ghana, Pakistan and India. Visitors aged 18 and over, according to the new planned policy, which is aimed at cutting immigration and abuses of the system, would be forced to hand over £3,000 from November for a six month visit visa.

    A statement by Dr Pocock after the meeting with Amb. Ashiru said:

    “ The British Government has announced that it intends to undertake a very small scale trial of the use of financial bonds as a way of tackling abuse in the immigration system (which occurs when some people overstay their visa terms).

    “The details of a pilot scheme are still being worked out. No final decision has been made. If the pilot were to go ahead in Nigeria it would affect only a very small number of the highest risk visitors. The vast majority would not be required to pay a bond. Those paying bonds would receive the bond back, if they abided by the terms of their visa.

    “Let me put this in perspective. Over 180,000 Nigerians apply to visit the UK each year. About 70% or around 125,000, of those applicants are successful. Travel between our two countries is a key part of our strong cultural and business relationship. Financial bonds would be focussed on only a tiny minority of potential abusers. It would NOT be a “£3000 visa charge” as some media reporting has alleged.

    “As soon as more details of the policy have been decided, we will inform the Nigerian Government and public fully and officially, in the spirit of our long standing friendship, and our wish to help bona fide Nigerian visitors to work, study or do business in the United Kingdom.”

     

  • EU, UK blast Edo

    The European Union and the United Kingdom have condemned the execution of four prisoners in Edo State.

    Judgment was delivered against the four inmates on Monday in the legal suit instituted by Legal Defence and Assistant project (LEDAP) on behalf of the affected inmates at the Federal High Court, Benin Division.

    United Kingdom’s Africa Minister Mark Simmonds said: “I am deeply saddened that four prisoners were executed in Edo State on Monday. These executions, the first since 2006, end Nigeria’s seven year moratorium on the death penalty.

    “This is a serious setback for human rights in Nigeria, coming only a few months before the Universal Periodic Review of Nigeria by the UN Human Rights Council.

    “We oppose the death penalty in all circumstances. There is no conclusive evidence of its deterrent value. It is particularly concerning that there are reportedly around 1,000 prisoners currently under sentence of death in Nigeria, and I would urge the Nigerian authorities to halt any further executions”.

    The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the Commission, Ms Catherine Ashton, said: “I recognise the serious nature of the crimes involved and express my sympathy to the families and friends of the victims.

    “However, executions can never be justified. I reiterate the longstanding opposition of the European Union to the use of the death penalty and recall the importance of UN Resolutions calling for the establishment of a moratorium as a first step towards abolishing the death penalty.”

     

     

  • UK to announce tougher immigration rules

    UK to announce tougher immigration rules

    The government is expected to announce tougher immigration rules as part of its programme for the next year.

    The Queen’s Speech will include a parliamentary bill aimed at making it easier to deport foreign criminals and those who enter the United Kingdom illegally.

    Other bills will cap social care costs in England and introduce a single state pension of £144 a week.

    The Duchess of Cornwall is to attend the State Opening of Parliament for the first time.

    The last time her husband, the Prince of Wales, attended the ceremony was in 1996.

    The Queen’s Speech, part of the State Opening of Parliament, allows the government to set out its proposed bills for the next parliamentary session.

    The list will be read out by the monarch at a special gathering of the House of Lords and House of Commons at about 11:30 BST. Prime Minister David Cameron will then set out the proposals in detail in the Commons, beginning at 14:30 BST.

    Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt told the BBC while the government would not be publishing the full set of 15 bills, it would set out the main problems it wanted to address.

    After the government’s repeated setbacks in its efforts to deport the radical cleric Abu Qatada, an immigration bill will be announced, allowing foreign criminals to be deported more easily, as well as people who are in the UK illegally.

    If passed, it would also ensure illegal immigrants cannot get driving licences, and change the rules so private landlords have to check their tenants’ immigration status.

     

  • Students return from trip to UK

    Students return from trip to UK

    AS the students of the British Spring College, (BSC) Awka in Anambra State returned to Nigeria on Tuesday after an eight-day excursion to the United Kingdom, they would no doubt, revel in fresh memories of their exploits in the Queen’s land. The 29 of them jetted out of the country last Monday via the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.

    The agitated students, who had travelled all the way from Awka to Lagos by road, were decked in their sky blue tops with black suits, ash trousers/skirts and a wine tie to match, at the Departure Hall of the airport.

    The travellers drawn from between JSS1 and JSS3 classes spoke of their plans to this reporter ahead of their trip.

    “I love to see different places and meet different people,” said Okeke Chinonye, 13 who is in SS3. “I also wish to see how their houses and food look like and also learn the way they speak,” Chinonye added.

    “I want to pay full attention to the way the whites learn their subjects compared with how we do it here,” cut in 12-year old Chukwuemeka Marvellous in JS2. I also want to learn how the whites have an edge over us academically and be able to relate this to my peers when I’m back,” Marvellous noted.

    According to the itinerary as drawn up in a document by the school management, the 29 ‘tourists’ in the course of their excursion, were to ‘engage in morning and evening indoor and outdoor sessions on environmental explorations covering many topics in science and Geography curriculums with hands on experiment including investigating the river as it enters the sea. Another is the concept of bio-diversity, inter-independence and adaptation of ecosystems life in local habitats and so on.”

    “It’s partly academic and partly tourism,” said BSC Vice-Principal (Academics) Mr Ozioko Joseph, “That is why the management decided the students should come to Lagos by road so that in the course of their journey, they will see some of the exciting places and rich tourist attractions within the country. I have told each of them to do a write up on their experience right from Awka to UK which is like a test they must all submit when they come back.”

    Oziokor said BSC management found the choice of UK most appealing since the school operates Nigerian/British curriculums.

    The school Matron, Rita Igwe hoped that the participants, after the trip, turned out more informed about the British culture.

    “I expect that after the trip, our students will have been more informed about the Culture of UK in relation to the school system. They will be better informed about the way British schools operate since our school also operates Nigeria/British curriculums.