Travel News

BY  Vidya Gappy and Antony Sguazzin

•  Island nation has vaccinated 70% of its 98,000 people
•  Coronavirus infections surged in early May, remain high

Transport

Kasim Sumaina writes on the need for government to nip in the bud the recent ugly trend of vandalisation in newly-constructed rail tracks by highly-placed government officials and some unscrupulous elements in the society

It is often said that evil, like death, could be found among any one. To this end, one cannot be surprised by the recent alleged arrest of highly-placed government officials involved in vandalising rail infrastructures.

The importance of railway as mode of transportation cannot be over-emphasised. Railway over the years has played a great role in economy development to the country and the expectation is that the recent government drive to modernise the rail sector should be given the full support it needs. However, despite government’s on-going efforts to build, revamp and resuscitate existing rail tracks and constructing new rail lines across the country with huge borrowing facilities, recent activities of some citizens in connivance with foreign nationals to cart away rail components built with huge loans from the Chinese government. This development has given stakeholders serious concern.

According to an industry expert, this is what happens when some unscrupulous elements in the society hate their country so much that they desire its demise. These tracks were laid in the late 1980s. Why are they being vandalised now?

He noted that rail tracks should be given special recognition as it’s annoying to see people destroying what was built for the betterment of their states.

While the federal government had already begun negotiations for additional loans, which, If granted, will balloon Nigeria’s public debt stock, which according to data from the Debt Management Office (DMO), stood at N33.107 trillion ($87.239 billion) as at March 31, 2021, despite public outcry.

If government is bent on contracting more loans for railway expansion, it should be prepared to safeguard the already existing infrastructures from vandalism or all will amount to nothing.

Barely six months after the inauguration of the Itakpe-Warri rail by President Muhammadu Buhari, a project abandoned more than 35 years ago by successive administrations, the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), raised the alarm over the vandalism of the newly-fixed Itakpe-Warri rail line by persons who cut off several sections of the track. In a viral video, the vandals used saw-like object to cut through the rail line to a point, where the pieces could be carted away, thereby exposing passengers to danger. The corporation, also announced the arrest of two persons suspected of vandalising rail tracks along the Kaduna-Zaria rail line.

The Managing Director/CEO, NRC, Mr. Fidet Okhiria, had confirmed the development to journalists stating that vandals perpetrated the act on the Warri-Itakpe standard gauge line around KM 30 Adogo, Kogi State section of the rail. He noted that despite the incident, the train was still being operated as there was an alternative.

Also, NRC Northern District Engineer, Mr. Haruna Sabo, also recently told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Zaria that two persons suspected of vandalising rail tracks along the Kaduna-Zaria rail line had been arrested. He had also stated that the corporation had deployed patrol teams along the rail line following the repeated vandalism of the rail tracks. Sabo said those arrested were members of a syndicate that specialised in removing rail clips that hold sleepers and rail tracks together.

Sabo said the suspects were arrested by staff of the NRC district office at Sayi-Dumbi rail section along the Zaria-Kaduna axis on Friday. He gave the names of the suspects as: Sabitu Kabiru of Matara Sarki in Zaria and a trader, Sabi’u Shehu.

What now appears a lucrative job also saw the Special Adviser on Infrastructure to Nasarawa State Governor, Yusuf Abubakar Musa, picked up by the state Police Command for vandalising NRC facilities alongside two police officers and one operative of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), among others. The state Commissioner of Police, Bola Longe, recently paraded the arrested Special Adviser alongside 16 other suspected vandals at the state command headquarters in Lafia. Longe gave details of other suspected vandals to include Mohammed Isiaka, former supervisory councilor on Education in Nasarawa Eggon Local Government Area, Mr. Marta Thai; a Chinese national and manager of Young Steel Company, Abuja (receiver); and Jacob Terlumun Emmanuel, the procurement officer of the Chinese company.

Others arrested, according to him, were “Samuel Shagbaor, a staff of the NRC and the principal technical officer covering Agyaragu, Lafia and its suburbs; Umaru Dauda and Abubakar Nuhu, owners of the trailer, who offered N160,000 bribe to secure the trailer; Nathaniel Oba, Principal partner, Nathoba and co, a law chamber in Benin-city, Edo State, who is the legal adviser to Yong Xing Steel Company Nigeria Limited, who offered N600,000 to bribe the investigating team of the Police Anti-kidnapping Unit to secure the release of his client.

Similarly, the Nigerian Police a week ago announced the arrest of criminal syndicate responsible for recent vandalisation of rail tracks in the North-west and North-central parts of the country. The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Frank Mba, a Commissioner of Police, said the arrest followed deliberate efforts by the force to contain and clamp down on perpetrators of recent incidents of rail tracks vandalisation, carting away of critical locomotive equipment and other related economic crimes in some parts of the country.

He said the arrested suspected vandals were among a total of 36 criminal suspects arrested by the police recently.

Parading the suspects in Abuja, he said the arrests were achieved due to sustained nationwide tactical, anti-crime operations by the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) and the Special Tactical Squad (STS) in the ongoing efforts aimed at stemming criminal activities particularly violent crimes in the country.

According to him, “Exhibits recovered in the operations included eight AK-49 rifles; three AK-47 rifles; one locally made rifle; 346 rounds of AK-47 live ammunition; 24 live cartridges; 20 AK-47 magazine, N1.4 million; vehicles, including two Toyota Corolla (Abuja -RBC 653 AE and ABC 906 AG); one Toyota Camry; one 307 Peugeot (Abuja-BWR 920 HK); one 406 Peugeot and one Honda. The rail track vandalism suspects, Idris Lawal, 42; Abdullahi Musa, 29, and Usman Umar, 22, were arrested following a coordinated intelligence-driven special operation on May 27, 2021, which uncovered a warehouse in Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State. A cordon and search operation conducted by the police operatives on the building revealed different vandalised rail equipment, stolen rail installation racks, weld-shear, rail puller, and other rail accessories and consumables. He said further investigations by the police team led to the interception of three heavily-loaded trucks along Ikom-Ibom junction in Cross Rivers State.

According to the PPRO, the trucks were fully loaded with vandalised rail items transported from the warehouse. Investigation is on-going to identity the destination, the targeted criminal receivers, end-users and other suspects complicit in the crime.

But, with the increasing cases of rail tracks vandalisation, industry observers are of the view that the Nigerian government’s seeming indifference is given rise to the ugly trend as those arrested are treated with kid gloves.

The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, had recently disclosed that the federal government had so far repaid over $150 million out of the $500 million facility secured by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan for the Abuja-Kaduna railway. Meaning an additional $350 million dollars is needed to offset the loan obtained from the Chinese government. He said, under the regime of former President Goodluck Jonathan, the loan for Abuja – Kaduna was about $500 million. “As of today, we have paid over $150 million on that loan.”

He empahsised that Nigeria had never defaulted when it comes to loan repayment. And that he didn’t also expect that the nation will default on any other loan the government has taken.

He also informed that the loan for Ibadan-Kano project was about $1.5 billion, stating that the rest of $500 million came from “our budget and I expect that whatever loans we take we will be able to pay.” Just when the federal government has started making headways in rail modernisation and its generated income risen from N70 million to N350 on Abuja-Kaduna corridor alone as disclosed by the Minister, and with huge debt staring at us, unscrupulous element are bent on distabilising on-going government railway modernisation plan through vandalisation. While efforts of the Nigerian Police should be commended, there is the need for the Nigerian Railway Corporation to synergise with various security agencies in the country to curtail the situation.

Okhiria, the NRC MD, told THISDAY in a telephone interview that efforts were being put in place not only to arrest those stealing the corporation’s properties, but to safeguard the rail tracks across the country.

Okhiria noted that the corporation has started a deliberate strategy to synergise with various community leaders to see how vigilantes will be drafted in to protect tracks along their corridor.

Also, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi has ordered the arrest of buyers of vandalised rail track facilities and equipment.

Amaechi said cases of vandalisation exists because there were those who have indicated interest in the vandalised facilities. He also said the rate of vandalisation would reduce, if the judiciary system dispenses justice without delay.

“I don’t know why some Nigerians are like the way they are. I have told the Managing Director of NRC to arrest the buyers of the equipment. It is not enough to arrest the vandals. It is likened to those who said why should the National Assembly punish those who pay ransom? That law was first passed by the Rivers State House of Assembly when I was a speaker and the reason is, that, when there is no demand, there will be no supply. “If we don’t pay ransom, they will be tired and they will stop. The same way, if they don’t buy those metals, slippers and others, nobody will steal them,” he said

“Also, we must approach the Judiciary to have court that can dispense justice readily so that people are sent to jail early enough to deter others and we will also encourage our governors to create jobs,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police (IG), Mr. Usman Baba, expressed the determination of the police to ensure that public spaces are reclaimed from criminal elements and a comfortable level of public safety and security achieved in all parts of the country.

He said all the suspects would be charged to court on completion of investigations

The question is, should the vandalisation be traced to lack of job opportunities or something else? Experts has attributed the spate of vandalisation bedeviling the rail sector to the negligence of traditional institutions, adding that the traditional institution has the vital role to play in curbing train tracks vandalisation along their domain.

They are also of the opinion that the NRC should engaged other relevant stakeholders within the rail corridors to sensitise their wards of the danger of trespassing on rail tracks and vandalising it.

By Maïthé Chini

Credit: Danny Howard/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

As of today/Saturday 26 June, an entry ban for most travellers coming to Belgium from 24 countries, including the United Kingdom, enters into force.

The 24 countries on the list are considered as “very high-risk zones” by Belgium because of the increasingly strong circulation of coronavirus variants of concern (such as the Delta variant). At the end of April, Belgium already imposed an entry ban on travellers coming from India, Brazil and South Africa.

Among the 24 countries now on the list, is the UK, which recorded 15,810 new coronavirus infections in one day on Friday, and as many as 16,703 on Thursday.

The other countries are Argentina, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Botswana, Chile, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Georgia, Jordan, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Qatar, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, Uganda, Uruguay and Zimbabwe. 

“I am not happy about it, but we have to protect ourselves against what is happening in these countries,” Federal Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke said when announcing the ban last week.

The entry ban applies to travellers coming from all countries on this list, and means that most people who were on one of their territories at some point in the last 14 days are prohibited from travelling – directly or indirectly – to Belgium.

Exceptions are only made for Belgian nationals, people who have their main residence in Belgium and people in transit, as well as for a very limited number of authorised essential journeys, such as travel by transport personnel and diplomats.

All this will certainly have an impact on travel during the holiday period, according to Brussels Airlines, which operates flights from Kinshasa in Congo and Entebbe in Uganda.

The measure comes very suddenly, as it was published on Thursday and already enters into force today, the company told the Belga news agency.

For the time being, there is no information on how long these travel measures will stay in place.

...extends restrictions on three others

BY Godsgift Onyedine

The Nigerian government has restricted entry to travellers from South Africa, amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, and to avoid the importation of the variants of concern.

It would be recalled that the federal government through the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) on COVID-19 had in May banned travellers who visited India, Brazil and Turkey within 14 days preceding travel to Nigeria.

Boss Msutapha, chairman PSC and Secretary to the Government of the federation, speaking at a press briefing on Monday, said South Africa was added to the list after the country recorded a surge in cases with over 100, 000 cases in the last one week and 20,000 recorded in the last 24 hours.

The chairman also informed that the restrictions on India, Brazil and Turkey will remain for another four weeks before it is further reviewed.

Part of the restrictions is that Nigerian citizens and permanent residents in Nigeria who have travelled to at least one of the affected countries in the last 14 days will be required to undergo a mandatory one-week quarantine at a government-approved facility upon arrival.

In addition to the above countries, Mistapha said the PSC has also shifted its focus on some African countries. They include Zambia, Rwanda, Namibia and Uganda

He noted that there are four major variants of concern now classified as Alpha (UK), Beta (SA); Gamma (Brazil) and Delta (India).

Mustapha however informed that the Delta variant which has wreaked devastating havoc, is not yet found in Nigeria hence the need to tighten borders and be more vigilant.

On the issue of Emirates flights in and out of Nigeria, the Chairman said the relevant Ministries continued to review developments and concluded that any decision to fly the Nigerian route by an airline is a business decision.

“In all circumstances, however, conditions placed on such flights must conform with international civil aviation standards and must not be discriminatory and must respect our sovereignty”, he said.

“The PSC wishes to encourage members of the public not to lower their guards yet because we continue to see spikes in some countries (including African countries) and the emergence of variants of concern in several jurisdictions where the third wave has occurred”, he added.

The Kaduna zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it has arrested one Mary Aweh Olaleye, identified as a travel agent, for her alleged involvement in defrauding two Nigerians of N8.4 million.

According to a statement by the anti-graft agency on Monday, the said travel agent had obtained the sum from Tochukwu Asika and Monday Alabi, under the pretext of securing visas to Canada for them.

The commission explained that the arrangement dated back to 2018, when the duo reportedly approached Olaleye to arrange a trip.

The trip was, however, said to have been suspended, and Olaleye reportedly offered to convert the arrangement to securing visas for Asika and Alabi.

“The complainants alleged that sometime in 2018, they contacted the suspect to arrange a trip to Turks and Caicos Islands for them, for which they paid him the sum of One Million naira (N1,000,000,00) each, totaling Two Million Naira (N2,000,000.00),” the statement reads.

“Two days to their departure, the suspect allegedly informed them that the trip had been put on hold and offered them an alternative; a visa to Canada which they accepted and paid a cumulative sum of Four Million Two Hundred and Forty Thousand Naira (N4,240,000.00) respectively, for visa, consultancy fee and air tickets.

“The complainants further stated that after a long hiatus, the suspect called and issued them the Canadian visa and Yellow Fever cards, and informed them they will be travelling through Kenya. However, upon arrival in Kenya, they were arrested by Kenyan Immigration Officials for possession of fake Yellow Fever cards and detained.

“Upon, release from detention after being issued with new Yellow Fever cards, the duo made spirited efforts to contact the suspect to get her Kenyan Representative to assist them with the connecting flight to Canada but could not reach her as she had switched off her mobile lines. The complainants were later re-arrested by Kenyan Immigration and deported to Nigeria.

“All efforts to retrieve their money proved abortive, hence the recourse to EFCC.”

The commission added that Olaleye failed to respond to several invitations by the EFCC, “until a lien was placed on her account”.

“She was subsequently arrested at her bank in Abuja and brought back to Kaduna for further investigation. She would be charged to court as soon as the investigation is concluded,” EFCC added.

For a country battling insecurity and facing severe food shortages, it is scary that a novel government programme to boost food production and encourage farmers is heading for the rocks, going by reports that insecurity and its attendant deprivation of farmers to access farms has become a clog in the programme’s wheel of progress. Handicapped by inability or fear to cultivate their farms, the producers and beneficiaries of the agricultural loans are expressing reservation about their ability to repay the loans. Only a concerted effort by the Federal Government to clamp down on insecurity can save the situation, but so far, there is no sign of that official commitment.

Unless urgent steps by the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration are taken to halt the incessant attacks by rampaging bandits and herdsmen on farmlands across the country, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) would be in jeopardy and may fizzle out thereby plunging billions of naira advanced to farmers down the drain. Yet, food shortages and hyper inflation on food products confronting the country are getting critical by the day.

Such development would amount to double jeopardy for weary and displaced farmers, majority of who now depend on food handouts in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps. This creates more despair than hope among the populace who now face the prospect of food shortage which is already manifesting in various ramifications. The attacks persist and succour appears not to be in sight. Is there a way out of what appears to be a desperate situation?

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in line with its developmental function established the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, which was launched by Buhari on November 17, 2015 and is intended to create a linkage between anchor companies involved in the processing and small holder farmers (SHFs) of the required key agricultural commodities. The programme thrust of the ABP is provision of farm inputs in kind and cash (for farm labour) to small holder farmers to boost production of these commodities, stabilise inputs supply to agro processors and address the country’s negative balance of payments on food. Thus, at harvest, the farmers supply their produce to agro-processors who pay cash equivalent to the farmers’ accounts.

The programme evolved from the consultations with stakeholders comprising Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development, state governors, millers of agricultural produce and smallholder farmers to boost agricultural production and non-oil exports in the face of unpredictable crude oil prices and its resultant effect on the revenue profile of Nigeria. It is basically aimed at creating economic linkage between smallholder farmers and reputable large-scale processors with a view to increasing agricultural output and significantly improving capacity utilisation of processors.

However, with bandits and killer herdsmen forcing farmers who took the ABP loans to abandon their farms, the farmers are bemoaning their losses and wondering how they would be able to repay the loans they took. And if they don’t pay back, the CBN will not give them another loan. It is a national issue that has assumed disturbing dimension and requires urgent intervention by both the federal and state governments.

The farmers’ ordeal is akin to the predicament of farmers in the North-East where a brutal Boko Haram war is raging, which has unleashed terrorists, bandits and herdsmen on hapless citizens in the areas. The people who used to produce enough food to eat and sell to other parts of the country are now beggars, famished in refugee camps.

According to the farmers, the bandits not only force them out of the farms, they unleash their cattle to destroy their entire crops and they are left with nothing to harvest. The bandits also warned the farmers never to return to their farms again, thus making famine a potential threat to the country.

The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, at the launch of the 2021 wet season input distribution in Ado-Ekiti recently said a total of 3, 107,890 farmers had been financed for the cultivation of 3,801,397 hectares of land across 21 communities through 23 participating financial institutions. He also stated that the sustainability of the programme depends on the repayment of loans accessed by farmers. The implication of that is that without the farmers being able to repay the loans, the ABP is in jeopardy and may indeed go down the drain except the farmers get a respite by way of insurance cover or direct intervention by the Buhari administration to call the bandits and killer herdsmen to order.

The ABP is a very progressive scheme that could make Nigeria to be self-sufficient in food production. It represents a hedge against food insecurity. Government should adopt stricter measures to end the raging insecurity crisis across the country. In particular, the Federal Government must address possible presence of internal sabotage within its security apparatus. More importantly, it must urgently allow states to partake in security through the establishment of state police, to work in tandem with federal police and the military. The ABP should not be allowed to die; and Nigerians deserve to live and work in peace; which the government has a duty to broker.

BY  Femi Asu

The price of a litre of Automotive Gas Oil, also known as diesel, has risen to N280, buoyed by the recent increase in global oil prices and naira devaluation.

The PUNCH had reported on February 24, 2021 that some filling stations in Lagos had increased diesel price to N250 per litre, while many others sold it at between N220-N245 per litre.

The global oil benchmark, Brent crude, which averaged $62.28 per barrel in February, stood at $75.10 per barrel as of 5:15pm Nigerian time on Monday.

Our correspondent observed on Monday that the price of the product, which is not regulated by the government, ranged from N270 to N280 per litre in several filling stations in Lagos.

Mobil, Capital Oil and Gas as well as Oando filling stations, all along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, sold the product for N280, N279.9 and N275 per litre. The product was sold for N267.50 per litre at NNPC Retail stations.

Diesel is mostly used by businesses to power their generators amid lack of reliable power supply from the national grid.

“The high diesel cost is taking a huge toll on operating and production costs across sectors. It is a case of multiple jeopardy for businesses,” the Director-General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dr Muda Yusuf, told our correspondent on Monday.

He noted that purchasing power had been weak and the exchange rate of the naira to the dollar had depreciated sharply.

Last month, the Central Bank of Nigeria devalued the naira as it adopted the NAFEX exchange rate of N410.25 per dollar as its official exchange rate, days after removing the N379/$ rate from its website.

The naira fell to 502/$1 on Monday at the parallel market from 500/$1 on Friday.

“There is foreign exchange market illiquidity. The cargo clearing at our seaports is a nightmare. The security situation has inflicted an elevated risk to investment,” Yusuf said.

According to him, diesel cost also has profound implications for transportation and logistics costs.

He said, “Most of the trucks that move freight across the country are powered by diesel. The consequences are that sales are dropping, inflationary pressures will intensify, profit margins are being eroded and industrial capacity utilisation will drop.

“Elevated pressure on general price level exacerbates the poverty situation in the economy.”

The President, Association of Small Business Owners of Nigeria, Mr Femi Egbesola, described diesel price hike as alarming, saying, “It is just too much for us to bear.”

“The prices of all factors of production are increasing; even electricity tariff has gone up, and the government knows that about 90-95 per cent of industries rely more on diesel,” he said.

He said the government should be able to mitigate the rise in diesel price, adding, “Yes, we know that it has been deregulated but then government should also be aware that there are certain price hikes that can kill industries, particularly small and medium enterprises.”

Egbesola, who noted that the incomes of many Nigerians had been eroded by inflation, said the diesel price hike would cause increases in the prices of commodities.

He added, “So, it means fewer people will buy the products, and it means businesses will make less profits. This will result in loss of jobs and may cause the closure of factories or companies.

“The only alternative will have is electricity supply from the national grid. But now we are having less supply of electricity than before.”

The National Bureau of Statistics, in its latest diesel price watch report, said the average price paid by consumers for the produce increased by 0.69 per cent month-on-month and by 8.99 per cent year-on-year to N238.82 in May from N237.19 in April.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Kaduna Zonal office have arrested one Mrs. Mary Aweh Olaleye, promoter of Victoria Travels Resorts Ltd.

Olaleye was arrested for allegedly obtaining Eight Million Four Hundred and Eighty Thousand Naira from two prospective travelers by false pretense.

She allegedly obtained the sum from the duo of Tochukwu Casmir Asika and Daniel Monday Alabi under the pretext of helping to procure Canadian Visas and other travel arrangements for them.

The complainants alleged that sometime in 2018, they contacted the suspect to arrange a trip to the Turks and Caicos Islands for them, for which they paid him the sum of One Million Naira(N1,000,000,00) each, totaling Two Million Naira (N2,000,000.00).

Two days to their departure, the suspect allegedly informed them that the trip had been put on hold and offered them an alternative; a visa to Canada which they accepted and paid a cumulative sum of Four Million Two Hundred and Forty Thousand Naira (N4,240,000.00) respectively, for visa, consultancy fee and air tickets

The complainants further stated that after a long hiatus, the suspect called and issued them the Canadian visa and Yellow Fever cards, and informed them they will be traveling through Kenya. However, upon arrival in Kenya, they were arrested by Kenyan Immigration Officials for possession of fake Yellow Fever cards and detained.

Upon, release from detention after being issued with new Yellow Fever cards, the duo made spirited efforts to contact the suspect to get her Kenyan Representative to assist them with the connecting flight to Canada but could not reach her as she had switched off her mobile lines. The complainants were later re-arrested by Kenyan Immigration and deported to Nigeria.

All efforts to retrieve their money proved abortive, hence the recourse to EFCC.

The suspect severally shunned invitation by the Kaduna Office of the EFCC until a lien was placed on her account. She was subsequently arrested at her bank in Abuja and brought back to Kaduna for further investigation.

She would be charged to court as soon as the investigation is concluded.

Hopes have been dashed that flights between the UK and US will restart this summer, hitting the travel plans of millions of Britons.

Talks between officials on either side of the Atlantic are unlikely to reach a conclusion by the end of July as had been hoped.

A rise in Delta variant cases in the UK and uncertainty over the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine mean discussions may drag on until September, the Financial Times reported.

The delay will come as a huge blow to British Airways and Heathrow airport, both of which have pinned their hopes of a meaningful return of transatlantic flights this summer.

For BA, these routes are among their most profitable. For Heathrow, there are fears that failure to restart services to the US will leave the door open to EU airports to fill the void - making it even more difficult for the London base to regain its crown as Europe’s busiest airport from Paris.

Non-Americans have been unable to travel to the US since the start of the pandemic, contrasting with the partial reopening of services to short-haul destinations since March 2020. Arrivals to the UK from the US must quarantine for at least five days - meaning that lucrative business class services are effectively not viable for investment bankers that typically frequented them.

Earlier this month The Sunday Telegraph revealed that French premier Emmanuel Macron was seeking to lure Wall Street banks away from the City. Mr Macron invited an elite group of global banking heads including JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon and his Goldman Sachs counterpart David Solomon to a “Choose France” event at the Palace of Versailles on June 28 to make the case for investing in his country. US President Joe Biden agreed earlier this month that Washington officials would participate in a working group with the UK to explore reopening the skies above the Atlantic. But British officials are said to have struggled to convince their American counterparts to relax restrictions.

A UK official told the FT: “This is not going to happen soon. We thought July was the earliest we might be able to get something in place, but now it’s looking more like September.” Another talks insider added: “The Biden administration is in no hurry . . . and the chances of anything happening before August now seem to be zilch.” The status of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has complicated matters further. The FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals giant has elected to apply for a full legal licence from the US Food and Drug Administration rather than a temporary alternative. This decision means it is likely to be months before regulators authorise the jab. A UK diplomat said: “AstraZeneca is proving a real problem. If the US doesn’t recognise it, it means millions of Brits won’t be eligible to travel if we agree to a new corridor.” Sean Doyle, BA chief executive, has repeatedly called for the UK-US corridor to be reopened since taking over last Autumn.

He said earlier this month: “We urgently need them to look to the science and base their judgements on a proper risk analysis, allowing us all to benefit from the protection offered by our successful vaccine rollouts.” John Holland-Kaye, Heathrow’s boss added: “We cannot continue to keep locked-up indefinitely. “Politicians should seize on the successful vaccination programmes in our two countries to begin looking to a future where we manage Covid rather than letting it manage us.” Another airline exposed to the restrictions is Virgin Atlantic. Chief executive Shai Weiss said: “There is no reason for the US to be absent from the UK ‘green list’. This overly cautious approach fails to reap the benefits of the successful vaccination programmes in both the UK and the US.”

SaharaReporters learnt from credible sources that the UAE police are searching for more Nigerian nationals and conducting raids and arrests to get them jailed.

BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORKJUN 29, 2021

The United Arab Emirates government has suspended Direct Employment Visa for Nigerians, as a result of the increasing rate of crimes involving Nigerians in the Middle-East country.

SaharaReporters learnt from credible sources that the UAE police are searching for more Nigerian nationals and conducting raids and arrests to get them jailed. 

Sources noted that this is the norm in Abu Dhabi particularly.

“We all are shouting that our country is bad, and that our government is not rising to our needs, which is true, but our reputation abroad is also fast declining due to our character.

“Two weeks ago, some Nigerians killed one another for selfish reasons at Sharjah, and another one just happened here in Abu Dhabi, when some guys went to an Arab man’s house, killed him, his wife and took away a huge amount of money from them.

“The UAE government is now tracking every Nigerian in Abu Dhabi and they have also banned every Direct Employment Visa from Nigeria until further notice,” the source said.

“For like one week, this city (Abu Dhabi) has been hot. They (the police) are just arresting anyone on sight now. There was a cult incident where Nigerian cult members hacked one another in an area in Abu Dhabi here. It is not easy. As of yesterday (Monday), they have put restrictions on visas for Nigerians. For now, no work permit for Nigerians in UAE generally. The crisis started from Sharjah and last week in Abu Dhabi,” another Nigerian told SaharaReporters.

SaharaReporters had reported in January 2021 that the UAE arrested and detained, without prosecution, many Nigerians in a series of sting operations targeted at irregular migrants.

SEE ALSOUAE Operatives Storm Houses, Detain Nigerians Without Prosecution3 Comments5 Months Ago

The UAE security operatives had raided the homes of many African migrants, most of whom are Nigerians, living in towns including Al Qouz, Abu Hail, Sharjah, Al Barsha, and Deira.  

According to a victim, about 80 percent of the persons arrested are legal residents while the remaining 20 are those with either visit visas or visa-related issues.

When contacted, the Chairperson of Nigerians In Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, had said the affected persons would have to liaise with the mission in UAE for more information.

Another victim of the arrest in UAE corroborated the government’s explanation but explained that some stayed back because their travel documents were withheld by their employers.

Crime rates have been rising among Nigerians in the UAE.

SaharaReporters had on February 22, 2021, reported that a 33-year-old Indian man in Dubai was robbed of Rs 55,30,806 by a gang of four Nigerian women after being lured into a fake massage parlour through a dating app.

The case was heard at the Dubai Court of First Instance.

According to Dubai Police, three Nigerian women were arrested from Sharjah after intensive investigations, while a fourth woman was still at large.

The three Nigerian defendants have been charged with robbery, issuing threats, keeping the victim forcefully confined inside an apartment, and prostitution.