BREAKING: US increases tourism visa cost to N99, 900 for Nigerians, blames FG

The United States Embassy in Nigeria says effective from Thursday, August 29, 2019, Nigerians applying for tourism, student and business visas will not only pay the N59, 200 fee but will have to pay an extra $110 (N40, 700) after the visa has been issued to them bringing the total cost to N99, 900. However, applicants who are denied visas would not need to pay the extra N40, 700.



Applicants seeking the L1 Visa (work permit) will pay an extra N112, 100 if given visas while those applying for H4 Visa (dependency/spousal) will pay an extra N66, 600. The US Embassy adopts the rate of N370/$1 for Nigerians which is higher than both the official rate and the black market rate.

The increment also comes amid complaints from hundreds of Nigerian visa applicants that they had not been able to secure US visa appointment dates despite making payments for visas.

The embassy said in a statement that the increment was done based on reciprocity.



It lamented that Americans were paying too much to secure Nigerian visas and thus the US government decided to retaliate. The US embassy said it had been holding talks with the Nigerian government to reduce the fee but the Federal Government refused to accede to its requests.

The directive comes less than four months after the US cancelled the drop box system for Nigerian visa applicants which used to allow Nigerians who have a travel history to the US to apply for visas without going for interviews at the embassy.



The statement read in part, “Effective worldwide on August 29, Nigerian citizens will be required to pay a visa issuance fee, or reciprocity fee, for all approved applications for non-immigrant visas in B, F, H1B, I, L, and R visa classifications.

“The reciprocity fee will be charged in addition to the non-immigrant visa application fee, also known as the MRV fee, which all applicants pay at the time of application.  Nigerian citizens whose applications for a non-immigrant visa are denied will not be charged the new reciprocity fee. Both reciprocity and MRV fees are non-refundable, and their amounts vary based on visa classification.

“US law requires US visa fees and validity periods to be based on the treatment afforded to US citizens by foreign governments, insofar as possible.  Visa issuance fees are implemented under the principle of reciprocity: when a foreign government imposes additional visa fees on US citizens, the United States will impose reciprocal fees on citizens of that country for similar types of visas.

“Nationals of a number of countries worldwide are currently required to pay this type of fee after their non-immigrant visa application is approved.

“The total cost for a US 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.

“Since early 2018, the US government has engaged the Nigerian government to request that the Nigerian government change the fees charged to US citizens for certain visa categories.  After 18 months of review and consultations, the government of Nigeria has not changed its fee structure for U.S. citizen visa applicants, requiring the US Department of State to enact new reciprocity fees in accordance with our visa laws.

“The reciprocity fee will be required for all Nigerian citizens worldwide, regardless of where they are applying for a non-immigrant visa to the United States.  The reciprocity fee is required for each visa that is issued, which means both adults and minors whose visa applications are approved will be charged the reciprocity fee.  The fee can only be paid at the US Embassy or the US Consulate General.  The reciprocity fee cannot be paid at banks or any other location.”

See Reciprocity fee schedule, organized by visa classification:

Read More

NLC Set To Hold National Rally Over Insecurity

Worried by the rising insecurity in the country the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has concluded plans to embark on a nationwide rally.

The rally according to the union is to sensitise governments and citizens on the need to urgently arrest the increased case of insecurity ranging from kidnapping, banditry, among others.


This decision, which was disclosed in a communique on Monday, was part of the resolutions reached by the national executive committee of the NLC, during its recently concluded meeting in Kano State.

Labour leaders during the meeting highlighted the negative effects of the current security situation on the nation’s economy.

Also contained in the communique issued at the end of the meeting is the issue of the implementation of the new national minimum wage.

The union called on the Federal Government to immediately begin implementation of the new minimum wage for civil servants.

They insisted that the Federal and State governments must commence the payment of the new wage immediately, beginning from when the bill was signed into law by the president.

Read More

Buhari’s govt wants to frame Obasanjo, says Atiku

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the February 2019 election, Atiku Abubakar, on Monday raised the alarm that President Muhammadu Buhari’s government was desperately plotting to frame former President Olusegun Obasanjo to stop him from criticising Buhari’s administration.

Atiku, in a statement by his media office, also alleged that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was feeding members of the media with deliberate falsehoods in an attempt to cause disaffection between him and Obasanjo on one hand, and between Obasanjo and Nigerians in general.



He said, “The truth is that there is desperation on the part of the current administration to rope in former President Olusegun Obasanjo into a crime as a way of silencing his voice, which they see as the preeminent critical voice against the misrule that they have foisted on Nigerians.”

“Atiku stated that for the avoidance of doubt, his son-in-law,  Mallam Babalele Abdullahi, did not donate any money in cash to the Olusegun Obasanjo Library.

“He said it is true that Abdullahi facilitated the donation of  N50m to the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library.

“He added that many other individuals, including civic-minded traditional rulers, state governors, bankers and captains of industry also donated to the library.



Atiku alleged that in attempt to robe Obasanjo into a crime,  Buhari’s government officials allegedly asked the Federal Inland Revenue Service to “falsely and libellously” include Obasanjo Farm in a published list of tax evaders, along with the names of other Peoples Democratic Party sympathisers, such as prominent international singer, Mr David Adeleke, popularly called Davido, who played a prominent role in the PDP’s governorship campaign in Osun State, for which he  was allegedly being punished.

Read More

Nigeria to become the world’s capital for infants’ death.by 2021--World Bank

A new report by the World Bank says Africa’s giant, Nigeria, will by 2021 become the world’s capital for infants’ death.

The revelation is contained in the latest bi-annual economic report of the World Bank’s Bretton Woods Institution.

It predicts that the most populous country on the continent will overtake India as the nation with the highest number of infant mortality under the age of five by 2021.

This new report comes few months after Nigeria overtook India as the poverty capital of the world.

The report says one reason for this estimate is the fact that the highest number of children who die from malaria in the world can be found in Nigeria.

Another reason is that the West African country recorded 714,000 under-five deaths in 2017, according to the current World Bank figures, while India recorded 989,000 deaths in the same year.

“Nigeria will overtake India in 2021 as the country with the most under-five deaths in the world. More children die of malaria in Nigeria than in any other country in the world,” the report said.

It continued: “Poverty remains high in Nigeria and access to basic social services is not universal. In 2016, the World Bank estimated poverty at 38.8 per cent of the population using the national poverty line. But by the international poverty line of PPP-corrected $1.90 per capita per day, an estimated 49.2 per cent of the population lived below poverty in 2017.”

The report also stated that Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-primary school-aged children in the world, nine million children to be exact. 90 per cent of these children are said to come from Northern Nigeria.

“Vaccination coverage rates in Nigeria have changed little over the last 25 years, in sharp contrast to other West African countries which have made more rapid progress even though they started from higher levels,” the World Bank report added.

Read More

ASUU Strike: Nigerian govt resumes talks with striking lecturers

The federal government on Tuesday resumed talks with the leaders of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over the ongoing strike in public universities which entered a month today.
The crucial meeting has in attendance the national president of the union, Biodun Ogunyemi, who led the union’s delegation.
The meeting is taking place at the Federal Ministry of Education in Abuja.

Also present are the education minister, Adamu Adamu; the permanent secretary, Sunny Echono; representative of National Universities Commission and representative from the National Income, Wages and Salaries Commission.

Speaking with PREMIUM TIMES briefly, the president of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Danielson Akpan, who was present at the meeting, said the two parties need to consider the interest of the students in their deliberations.

“My fear is that these politicians can give a ‘political response’ and may not meet the conditions again,” Mr Akpan said.
The NANS president confirmed that the meeting started a few minutes past 2 p.m.

The union embarked on strike on November 4 over the poor funding of Nigerian universities, an alleged plan by the federal government to increase students’ fees and introduce an education bank, as well as non-implementation of previous agreements.

Read More

Students kick as Osinbajo visits OAU for convocation

Students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife on Monday expressed their reservations against the planned visit of the Nigerian Vice -president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo into the campus to attend the 43rd combined convocation of the university holding next week.


The students, through their representative, Gbenga Ololoniran, who is the Protem Chairman, Students’ Union Action Committee, described the planned visit as an aberration, saying the Vice-president had been part of problem confronting Nigerian universities.

He said the APC led administration’s policy on education was totally anti-poor, which tends towards making it difficult for the children of average Nigerian to access qualitative education and become well informed to challenge the old political order.


He noted that the struggle against this abysmal situation in the education sector and the citadel in particular had led to victimisation and repression of students’ activists and proscription of students’ movement.

“At this period where the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been on strike across universities, including OAU, over the rotten state of university education, it is still a shock to us that the only solution provided by the government is for tertiary students to begin to pay N700,000 as tuition fee per session.

“We, therefore, see the presence of such anti-student figure of the government in an academic arena to be a guest speaker, as a rape of our collective intelligence in a university where students’ academic activities are currently battered by the nationwide industrial action of ASUU.


“We make bold to assert that Prof. Osinbajo is not welcome on OAU campus”, Ololoniran said.

He, therefore, called on the Federal Government to retrace it’s steps and work towards adequate funding of education by committing at least 26 per cent of the country’s budget as against the paltry seven per cent to the education sector.

In a swift reaction, the Public Relations Officer of the Institution, Mr Abiodun Olanrewaju described the threat expressed by the students’ leader as personal opinion of Ololoniran, saying” in fact, the OAU Community, particularly the students, are eagerly waiting for a day when either President Muhammadu Buhari or Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, or both of them, will come to OAU on a visit.

“The community is ready to give a rousing welcome to the Senior Advocate of Nigeria and renowned Professor of law whose brilliant performance in the present administration has done the academic community proud,” he added.

Read More

‘Rice importation to end in Nigeria by 2020’

The Policy Adviser of the John Kufuor Foundation, Hon. Abraham Dwuma, on Tuesday expressed the belief that rice importation into the country would end by 2020.

Dwuma told the News Agency of Nigeria in Ilorin that the Africa Rice Advocacy Platform under the JKF had  created a rice value chain to achieve this.

He said the purpose of the platform was for Africa to achieve zero importation of rice.



”Two years from now, Nigeria should have no business importing rice because I have travelled the length and breadth of the country and I know the potentials.


”Kebbi State alone can produce all the rice Nigeria needs; talk more of Sokoto and even Kwara.

“‘For, example, in Akwa Ibom, they have one of the best lands for rice production.

”When we came to Nigeria, farmers were doing 1.5 tonnes per hectare, now they are doing six tonnes per hectare two times in a year.

”We believe that with this platform, we will get there,” Dwuma said.



(NAN)

Read More