71 Nigerian girls crying for help in viral video in Lebanon arrive Abuja

Seventy-one young Nigerian girls trafficked to Lebanon and seen in a video that had gone viral where they were crying for help had been rescued and arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, early Monday.

Mr Bitrus Samuel, the Head of NEMA Abuja Operation Office, disclosed this to Newsmen. He said that the girls were the second batch of the more than 150 Nigerian girls who were trafficked to Lebanon in search of greener pastures.

Early in the month, 94 victims that constituted the first batch were received at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. Samuel said that the latest victims would be going from the airport to the hotel where the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) would profile their records. The agency would quarantine the girls as a precaution against coronavirus pandemic.

Also, the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Ferdinand Nwonye, said that the rescue came after video footage of the stranded Nigerians appealing to the Federal Government and well-meaning Nigerians to come to their aid went viral on the Internet. The spokesman said the ministry had several discussions with Mr Houssam Diab, the Ambassador of Lebanon to Nigeria before the Lebanese Government agreed to release the girls to the Federal Government.

He said that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, was very sad when he saw the video footage. He had to summon the Lebanese Ambassador, and both leaders had a series of engagements that led to the release of the girls.

Nwonye said that following the discussions between the two leaders, the Lebanese community in Nigeria through the facilitation of the Nigerian mission in Beirut chartered a flight, paid the flight tickets for these girls to return to Nigeria. NAN reports that various government officials from NAPTIP, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Nigeria in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) respectively were on ground at the airport to receive them. Also, Mr Akinloye Akinsola, the representative of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), said that some Nigerians employed as domestic workers in Lebanon had complained of maltreatment from their Lebanese employers.

He said that sequel to the complaints; the Lebanese Ambassador to Nigeria had suspended the issuance of working visas to Nigerians seeking to do domestic work in Lebanon. He said the suspension had become imperative so as to stem the tide of the maltreatment. Akinsola said that the commission had started the procedure for proper harmonisation in line with best practices relating to orderly migration. He said that the discussion was with the Ministry of Labour and Employment and the House of Representatives’ Chairman on the Diaspora, Mrs Tolulope Akande-Shodipe.

Vanguard

Related stories: Canada and Nigeria working to combat migrant smuggling, human trafficking and irregular migration

Canada and Nigeria working to combat migrant smuggling, human trafficking and irregular migration

Nigeria airports to reopen for international flights on August 29

Nigeria's aviation minister has said the country will reopen its airports for international flights from August 29, introducing protocols to minimise the risk of coronavirus infection.

Home to some 200 million people, Africa's most populous country has registered 49,068 confirmed coronavirus cases and 975 related deaths. Some 36,500 people have recovered so far.

Nigeria's airports have been shut down since March 23 to all but essential international flights as part of the country's efforts to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Aviation Minister Hadi Sirika said on Monday the resumption of international flights would begin with the megacity of Lagos and the capital, Abuja.

"Protocols and procedures will be announced in due course," he wrote earlier on Twitter.

At a briefing in Abuja, he said four flights would begin landing daily in Lagos and four in Abuja.

Nigeria resumed domestic flights on July 8, and Sirika said there had been no confirmed coronavirus transmissions on flights.

Earlier in the day, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said the country had recorded 298 new confirmed coronavirus cases and one related death on Sunday.

With more than 16,500 infections, Lagos remains Nigeria's hardest-hit area. It is followed by the Federal Capital Territory - which includes Abuja - with more than 4,700 cases and the southwestern Oyo state with almost 3,000 infections.

Al Jazeera

Video - Nigerian Paralympian speaks on Doping

Still on doping, the International Paralympics Committee banned Nigeria's former Paralympic and Commonwealth Games champion, Esther Onyema, for four years in May. The 38-year-old Para power lifter is highly regarded in Nigeria after winning gold and silver medals at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. CGTN's Deji Badmus interviews Onyema on her ban.

Nigeria receives largest container vessel in history

The reforms in the nation’s port system is yielding results as the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) successfully berth the biggest container vessel to ever call at any Nigerian port.

The Maerskline Stardelhorn vessel with length overall of 300 metres, width of 48 metres was received at the Federal Ocean Terminal (FOT), Onne in Rivers State at 1620 hours on Saturday, August 15, 2020.

General Manager, Corporate and Strategic Communications, NPA, Jatto Adams, said the vessel, which has a capacity of 9,971(TEUs) is a flagship from Singapore.

The vessel, which was brought in from Fairway Bouy Bonny with the aid of three tugboats operated by three of NPA pilots was received by the Ports Manager of Onne Ports, Alhasssan Abubakar.

Adams said NPA is delighted to state that the landmark arrival of the biggest gearless Maerskline vessel at the Onne Ports is a result of management’s determination to improve the patronage of the Eastern Ports.

“It is an indication of the fact that the Eastern Ports are equipped to receive all manner of vessels and an expansion of the options of consignees in the Eastern and northern parts of the country,” he said.

Adams said the management of NPA congratulates its team at the Onne Ports and appreciates all stakeholders at the port for their cooperation towards seeing that the vessel berthed safely without any challenge.

He however assured of the authority’s commitment to ensuring that all ports locations in Nigeria work at their optimal capacity and the repositioning of Nigerian ports as the hub in the sub-region.

By Sulaimon Salau

The Guardian

Nigeria says reversing U.S. visa ban will take 'enormous resources'

Overturning a U.S. ban on Nigerians seeking immigrant visas will take “enormous resources”, but the nation is making progress, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Thursday.

Nigeria was among six countries in an expanded version of U.S. President Donald Trump’s travel ban, announced in January, which blocked their citizens from obtaining U.S. visas that can lead to permanent residency.

U.S. officials cited issues such as sub-par passport technology and failure to sufficiently exchange information on terrorism suspects and criminals.

Nigerian Interior Minister Ogbeni Aregbesola asked the U.S. ambassador in Abuja to drop the ban, but also chaired a committee to address U.S. concerns.

In a statement on Thursday, Buhari said that after suggestions from a report by the committee, they had “fully resolved” two out of six U.S. concerns, “substantially satisfied” two others and had made “some progress” on the last two.

But he said they were still drafting a “workable plan” for the report’s full suggestions, which require “enormous resources.”

“I am delighted that this progress, especially the uploading of Lost and Stolen Passport and Travel Documents, has been acknowledged by the United States Government,” Buhari said.

A U.S. embassy spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Buhari said Nigeria would harmonize citizen identification data held by different parts of government, create a national criminal management system modelled on INTERPOL and start a national criminal DNA laboratory.

His statement did not specify what Nigeria had done already. A spokesman for Buhari directed questions to Aregbesola, who could not be immediately reached.

Nigerians can still obtain visas for study, work and travel in the United States, but, in the 2018 fiscal year, just 8,000 Nigerians obtained immigrant visas.

Reuters