Update On The £3,000 UK Visa Bond - FG Warns British Government Of Retaliation

The Federal Government has issued a warning to the British government that it would opt for a retaliatory measure if its proposed £3,000 visa bond is implemented. Nigeria was said to have made this known during a private meeting between Foreign Affairs Minister, Olugbenga Ashiru and British High Commissioner, Andrew Pocock, in Abuja yesterday, Tuesday.

The Federal Government summoned Pocock over the policy which it said was capable of harming the existing cordial relationship between the two countries. Nigeria is one of the six countries whose nationals would be required to pay the £3,000 bond under a proposed policy that will take effect in November. The others are India, Bangledish, Ghana, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

It was gathered that Pocock  admitted at the meeting with Ashiru that the UK  planned to introduce the financial bond as a way of tackling abuse in the immigration system but added that no final decision has been made.

Ashiru, who was said to have recalled the days when nationals of Commonwealth traveled freely to the UK and other member states, expressed displeasure over the policy which he described as not only “discriminatory but capable of undermining the spirit of the Commonwealth family.” He asked him to think about the implications a retaliatory measure would have on the two countries. The minister stressed that Nigeria might also impose £3,000 visa bond on British nationals coming into the country too.

Nigerians To Pay £3,000 Cash Bond Before Entry Into The UK

Starting November 2013, the UK government will start collecting a £3,000 cash bond from visitors of high risk countries coming to Britain on six-month visit visas and guess what, our beloved country is among them. Other countries affected are India, Pakistan, Ghana, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. 

This select countries according to the UK government have been picked for their high number of visa applications and what they see as relatively high levels of immigration abuse and fraud.

The bond will also be expanded to cover thousands of visa applicants and extended to work and student permits as well as tourists. The money will be kept by the Government if visitors do not return home by the time their visas expire. 

Actress Ngozi Nwosu Returns After Successful Surgery in UK

The actress returned on Tuesday, May 7th after undergoing a successful kidney and heart transplant in a UK hospital. 

Her publicist says she's doing very well and will return to the UK in a few months time for check up.

Congrats to her and wish her long and more healthy years.

Ugandan Family Fraudsters Jailed For A Total Of 19 Years For £4million Worth Of Benefit Fraud In The UK

Jordan Sebutemba (Left), Property owned by one of the fradster in Uganda (Up) and Fraudsters (Down)

The family of fraudsters of an ‘outrageous abuse of the hospitality’ shown to them by Britain were jailed yesterday for stealing £4million from taxpayers.

The 20-year scam included one of the fraud ringleaders creating fake identities for up to 100 children to milk the benefits system.

The ringleader, Ruth Nagubuzi also claimed to have HIV and Aids in order to receive costly drugs which she then sent back to Uganda for huge profits. It was estimated that supplying the medicines to the 49-year-old, as well as four other made-up ‘sufferers’, cost the taxpayer more than £2million. A further £154,000 went on education for members of the ‘family’, with £37,500 for a single higher education course.

Fraud relating to accommodation costs and sub-letting of flats by Nagubuzi cost £650,000, and the family’s benefits including child allowances, disability benefits, and council tax and tax credits totalled £900,000.

The gang’s gains were spent on a complex consisting of luxury apartments, shops, restaurants and a hotel in Nagubuzi’s home city of Kampala, the Ugandan capital. Plans for building new properties were found when police raided the gang’s homes across East London.

UK to Refurbish Prisons in Nigeria Ahead of Deportation

Taxpayers in the United Kingdom are to foot the bill to revamp jails in Nigeria and Jamaica so that the convicts in British prisons can be deported without breaching their human rights.

This is the latest move by the UK’s coalition government to persuade foreign convicts to serve their sentences at home.

It was revealed that a project is currently on going in Nigeria which supports the provision of “human rights training for prison officers” while another project will construct new facilities at a women’s prison in Lagos, to reduce overcrowding.

The report also claimed that funds are currently being spent in Jamaica to “assist Jamaican authorities in modernising their prison service and rehabilitation and reintegration activities.”