Naija people, una dey hear this one? According to a report by UK Daily Mail, visitors from 'high risk' countries in Africa and Asia will have to put up a £3,000 cash bond to enter Britain.
The money will be kept by the Government if visitors do not return home by the time their visas expire.
A
pilot scheme, introduced by Home Secretary Theresa May, will target
hundreds of people coming to Britain on six-month visit visas from
India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ghana, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
The countries have been picked for
their high number of visa applications and what the Government sees as
relatively high levels of immigration abuse and fraud, reports the
Sunday Times.
The
bonds, to be introduced from November, will only apply to non-EU
migrants, otherwise they would fall foul of European rights to free
movement. 'This is the
next step in making sure our immigration system is more selective,
bringing down net migration from the hundreds of thousands to the tens
of thousands while still welcoming the brightest and the best to
Britain,' Mrs May told the Sunday Times.
'In
the long run we’re interested in a system of bonds that deters
overstaying and recovers costs if a foreign national has used our public
services.'
A second scheme
will cover countries such as Kenya, the newspaper reports, which are
considered to be lower-risk because immigration officials have fewer
doubts about migrants' plans to return home.
About
2.2million people are granted visas to enter Britain every year. Last
year 296,000 people from India were granted six-month visas, as were
101,000 from Nigeria, 53,000 from Pakistan and 14,000 apiece from
Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
The Home Secretary plans to reduce annual net migration to under 100,000 by 2015.
Gunmen have killed 10 people, including nine foreign tourists after
storming a hotel in far northern Pakistan, BBC reports.Officials say
five are from Ukraine, one from Russia and three from China.
A Pakistani guide also died in the attack.It happened at the base
camp of Nanga Parbat, the world’s ninth highest mountain, in
Gilgit-Baltistan.It is the first such attack on tourists in the region. A
Sunni militant group, Jundullah, said it was responsible.Police had at
first said 10 foreign tourists had died. The motive for the killings is
not yet clear.
One person, said to be Chinese, has survived the attack.Part of the
Himalayan Range, Nanga Parbat, standing at 8,126m (26,660ft), is popular
with trekkers and mountaineers, especially during June and July.
The assault is seen as a significant blow for Pakistan’s already
struggling tourist industry, the BBC says.Gilgit-Baltistan, which
borders China, had so far been considered one of the more secure areas
under Pakistani control.
The attackers, reportedly dressed in police uniforms, stormed the
hotel at the base camp in the foothills of Nanga Parbat shortly after
midnight.
Favour Abdulazeez, who claimed to be the mother of a baby girl
abandoned at the backyard of an apartment in Kuje, Abuja, has solicited
financial assistance from the public to enable her to claim and take
care of the baby.
Ms. Abdulazeez told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that she
abandoned her baby because she was jobless, divorced and had no means of
fostering the child.She said that when she kept the carton with the
baby inside the bush, she did not go away but hid in the bush to know
who would pick the baby.
She stated that she did this to enable her know the person who would
pick the baby girl to enable her to do a follow-up.“All along, I was
monitoring the baby’s situation, I know those who picked the baby and
took her to the police.“I was listening to their conversation from my
hideout, I even followed them from a distance when they were taking my
baby away,” she said.
Ms. Abdulazeez, who turned up at the police outpost in Gwagwalada on
Friday to claim ownership of the baby, added: “I told the police that I
would take care of my baby if only the government would assist me with a
job or a trade no matter how small.’’Inspector Yahaya Musa, the Police
Area Command in Gwagwalada, FCT, had on Friday declined comments on the
matter, saying that he was not authorised to speak to newsmen on the
matter.
Mr. Musa instead referred NAN reporter to the social welfare unit of
the Gwagwalada Area Council for further enquiries.Hanatu Turu, Head of
the Social Welfare Department of Gwagwalada Area Council, said that she
was aware of the incident.She said the police should be allowed to
conclude their investigations.
Ms. Abdulazeez was said to have been delivered of the baby girl on
June 13 and secretly put her in a carton and took her to a nearby bush
behind her house at night, where she abandoned the baby.
A resident in the area, who pleaded anonymity, told NAN that
Abdulazeez is her neighour, adding that it was the cry of the baby that
drew the attention of passers-by who later took the baby to the
police outpost.
Spain wrapped up their group stage campaign of the Confederations Cup
with ease after recording a comfortable 3-0 victory over Nigeria at the
Estadio Castelao Fortaleza.
A brilliant solo double from Jordi Alba and a header from substitute
Fernando Torres sealed the victory over a disappointing Super Eagles
side, who were undone by their own inability to finish the numerous
chances that came their way.
Predictably, Vicente Del Bosque made a number of changes from the
side that dismantled Tahiti 10-0 on Thursday, with Victor Valdes
starting in goal. Nigeria meanwhile, made two changes from the line-up
that suffered defeat against Uruguay.And Spain settled into their rhythm
early on, with Andres Iniesta nutmegging a defender en route to testing
Vincent Enyeama with a good effort inside a minute.
However, the early barrage continued, with Jordi Alba opening the
scoring two minutes later in scintillating fashion.Picking up the ball
after a neat pass from Iniesta, the Barcelona full-back embarked on a
fine run, slaloming past three Nigerian defenders before coolly slotting
the ball past Enyeama to put La Roja 1-0 up.
The African champions struggled in the opening exchanges, with Cesc
Fabregas denied by Enyaema, but at the other end, they too saw a chance
go begging, with Sergio Ramos hurriedly thwarting John Obi Mikel, after
the ball had fallen to him following good work by Joseph Akpala.Stephen
Keshi’s side rallied, and were posing numerous problems for the world
and European champions. Set through by Ideye Brown, Sunday Mba produced a
stinging effort from distance which required Valdes to divert it away
for a corner.But Spain continued to dominate in search for a second.
First, Ramos’ superb long ball picked out Roberto Soldado, whose
brief hesitation allowed Enyeama to recover, before the Valencia
striker’s pin-point delivery off the wing for Fabregas, saw the latter
strike against the post.Nigeria’s profligate finishing continued early
into the second half. Ahmed Musa’s threatening delivery off the right
flank picked out Brown in the middle, but somehow, the striker couldn’t
connect cleanly with the ball, though at the other end, Xavi flashed a
free-kick narrowly over the bar as both sides’ search for another goal
continued.
Just after the hour, Spain doubled their advantage. Torres, who had
been only on the field for two minutes, capitalised on some poor
defending to power a header from Pedro’s fine cross.Nigeria began to
tire towards the end of the second period, amidst the typical passing
intensity imposed by their opponents, but they once again failed to beat
Valdes in the Spain goal.
Another teasing delivery from Musa saw substitute Muhammad Gambo to
somehow fire horribly wide of the post.Alba wrapped up a fine
performance with two minutes to go, latching onto David Silva’s long
pass to round Enyeama and into an empty net to seal an emphatic second
and Spain’s third.
Spain top Group B with nine points, and will face Itay in a rematch
of last year’s Euro 2012 final in the last four on Thursday in
Fortaleza.
In the other group match, uruguay thrashed tahiti 8-0.
Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola has denied ever slapping his
deputy, Mrs. Grace Tomori, stressing that the rumor was aimed at causing
disaffection capable of destabilising the state.
The governor said a cordial relationship exists between the two of them.
He added that “I have never beaten anybody in my life. In fact, I
don’t beat my children, let alone beating any other person. More so, the
Deputy Governor is older than me, so how do I beat an elderly person.”
Governor Aregbesola, who spoke during a seven hour live programme
tagged ‘Ogbeni till day break,’ weekend, maintained: “I don’t have any
quarrel with my Deputy, and I can’t have any with her because I
intentionally chose her and no one choose her for me.
“I think I can work with her and that is why I chose her. So, no differences exist between us.”
The deputy governor who was also present at the programme confirmed
the claims of the governor when she was asked to respond to the
allegation that the governor once slapped her.
The deputy governor stressed that a cordial relationship exists
between her and the governor,, adding that she would remain loyal to the
governor.
On the crisis rocking the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), Governor
Aregbesola said: “Let the NGF take care of itself. The forum is a
voluntary one and it is not compulsory that every Governor is a member.”
He also denied insinuation that the debt profile of the state has
risen to N300 billion, saying that the opposition was only making the
allegation to destabilise the progress of the state and cause confusion.
…lauded by Okonjo-Iweala, World Bank, over good governance
The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has observed that
Osun State governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, through his programmes, has
demonstrated that good governance is possible.
Also, the World Bank confirmed that the Federal Government’s Youth
Employment and Social Support Operation (YESSO) was replicated from the
Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (OYES) started by Aregbesola.
In the same breath, the governor said that the nation would be great economically only if its people became very productive.
An Operations Manager with a first generation bank in Agbor, Delta
State has been arrested by the police for allegedly conniving with an
armed robbery gang that raided the bank, weekend.
The gang had in a commando style operation, succeeded in carting away
millions of naira in both local and foreign currencies on Friday, while
some bank customers and passers-by were wounded in the process.
Delta State Police command’s spokesman, Mr. Lucky Uyabeme, said that
“the arrested Operations Manager of the bank is helping the police in
its investigation. The command will not leave any stone unturned in
ensuring that all the hoodlums involved are brought to book.
“Preliminary investigation revealed an insider connection in the bank
robbery as the two keys to the strong room that were supposed to be
kept by two different senior staff were left with the Operations
Manager, who in turn left the strong room open.
“The four bullet proof doors were not tampered with. One of the
senior staff of the bank who was supposed to be with one of the keys to
the strong room purported to be sick, handed over the keys to the
Operations Manager,” Uyabeme said.
