Skip to main content

Nigerians throng immigration office for international passports

Some Nigerian passports

Many Nigerians seeking to escape from the economic hardship in the country, are trooping to the Nigeria Immigration Services (NIS) office in Enugu to obtain or renew their international passports.

A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent, who monitored the development at the NIS Passport Office at the Federal Secretariat, Enugu on Wednesday, observed that youths between 19 and 32 years were the majority among the more than 100 people anticipating to obtain or renew their passports.

NAN gathered that most of the applicants are students and young businessmen, who want to seek admission or relocate their businesses to other countries, mostly within the African continent.

Speaking with NAN, a fresh passport applicant, Mr. Kelechi Ngwu, said that he was making effort to relocate his tyre business from Enugu to Cotonou the capital of Benin Republic.

“Apart from the recession that I have been managing; the business environment here is unfriendly especially on issues of double taxation and restrictions on the import of tokunbo tyres,” Ngwu said.

Another fresh passport applicant, Mr. Charles Okeke, said that he was making a fresh passport for him and his wife to relocate and start life in South Africa.

“Day to day, things continue to get hard while the standard of living continues to drop due to age-long mismanagement of the economy.

“I have discussed with my wife, who agreed that we must leave now that we are relatively financially buoyant before it will be difficult for us to make it out of the country,’’ Okeke said.

Miss Ifeoma Abraham, a student, said that she was seeking a passport to study in Ghana.

“As you can see, I am no more younger; so I am seeking admission to a Ghanaian university where there would be no issue of strike, which elongates students’ stay in school,’’ Abraham said.

A teenager, Chike Kalu (18), said that his parents want him to seek admission, study and work in South Africa after his education.

“I have been here on Tuesday with my dad, but I could not do my biometric capturing, so I had to return today again.

“My parents want me to study in South Africa and work there. They said there are more prospects for my fine art talent in South Africa,’’ Kalu said.

NAN reports that the renewal or obtaining of international passport, popularly known as ECOWAS Passport, still costs N20, 000.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Court grants Fani-Kayode N50m bail

Fani-kayode sandwiched by EFCC officials Justice James Tsoho of the Federal High Court Abuja on Thursday granted a N50m bail to former spokesman of the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode. Fani-Kayode was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a five-count charge of money laundering to the tune of N26m. Fani-Kayode is the sole defendant in the fresh charges numbered, FHC/ABJ/CR/140/2016. The EFCC accused the defendant of diverting 26 million Naira allegedly received from the ONSA while Sambo Dasuki was in office. The anti-graft agency also accused him of handling the said N26 million without going through financial institution as required under the Money Laundering Act. The embattled former minister is already facing 17-count charge of money laundering before the Lagos Division of the court, along with a former Finance Minister; Nenadi Usman, Danjuma Yusuf and a firm; Joint Trust Dimension Nigeria Limited. They were charg...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pope not involved in Colombian peace deal- Vatican

Pope Francis Pope Francis has turned down a request to play a role in the peace deal between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group. The Vatican in a statement issued on Wednesday in in Vatican City said that an invitation was sent to his Holiness in early August to appoint a representative to participate in the committee that selected the judges for the talks. The statement said that though Pope Francis supported the peace process, he, however, reiterated that he would not get involved in Colombian peace deal. It said that Pope was praying for the enlightenment of the hearts and minds of those who were called to promote the common good of the Colombian nation. A deal was announced last week, putting an end to five decades of internal conflict between government forces and the FARC rebels. The agreement, which needed to be ratified through a referendum in Oct. 2, would entail setting up a special court to grant amnesties or pu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Man docked for defiling 9-year-old girl

magistrate-court A 33-year-old man, Godwin Otobo, was on Monday docked at a Surulere Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos.For allegedly defiling a nine-year-old girl, ‎Otobo, who lives at No. 10, Borrow Pit St., Sangotedo-Ajah area of Lagos, was said to have defiled the underage girl whose parents also reside in the same compound. The Prosecutor, Sgt. Anthonia Osayande, told the court that the accused committed the offence at about 9.00 p.m. sometimes in September. “The accused defiled the girl in the night when she was fetching water.‎ “The offence contravened Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011,’’ Osayande told the court. The accused pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge of defilement. Ruling on a bail application filed by the accused, Chief Magistrate Ipaye Nwachukwu, granted him bail in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties in like sum. She said one of the sureties must be a property owner in Lagos State, while the other must be a civil servant on grade...
Post a Comment
Read more