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Be Stringent Over Visas To Nigerians, Canada Tells US
As Nigerian asylum seekers flood into Canada across a ditch in Upstate New York, Canadian authorities have asked the United States Government for help, but not with managing the influx at the border.
Instead, they want U.S. immigration officials to reduce the foot traffic by screening Nigerians more stringently before granting them U.S. visas.
It is a ripple effect that few expected last summer when people, mostly Haitians, began to walk into Quebec via an “irregular” border crossing north of Plattsburgh, N.Y., and seek refugee status.
With the coming of spring, the flow has picked up again. But recently, the asylum seekers have been mostly Nigerian, and their route to the border is more problematic, Canadian officials say.
Many Haitians had lived in the United States for years before suddenly learning they would lose their protected status and fleeing north.
But many of the Nigerian asylum seekers are arriving in Quebec with recently issued U.S. visitor visas, a spokesman for Canada’s immigration minister, Mathieu Genest, said.
“They’re not using the visa for the reason it was intended for,” he said.
Canada is not asking U.S. officials to refuse entry to Nigerians, Genest said, adding that it was only seeking stricter screening to ensure that Nigerians who are granted U.S. visitor visas truly intend to return home.
The request is an unsurprising one between two countries that have collaborated for decades on migration-related matters.
But it also is a sign that Canada is feeling new pressure on its borders as U.S. immigration and refugee policies shift.
Mary Chukwuwuekezie, who walked into Quebec with her three children in November after staying in the United States for 11 months on a visitor visa, said conditions in Nigeria were worsening.
“They kidnap and burn houses. They’ll even burn a church,” she said.
But it has never been easy for Nigerians, or many other asylum seekers, to enter Canada to lodge a claim in the first place, partly because of its geography.
No one can officially enter Canada from the United States as a refugee claimant because of the Safe Third Country Agreement, which forces people arriving in either country to make their claim where they first land.
Last year, however, a way around that became apparent, when news organizations and past border-crossers on social media publicized the locations of Canada’s unofficial land crossings, opening an opportunity for Nigerians.
“If your final destination is Canada, you’ll want to walk across the border,” Proctor said.
The State Department says that it has “strong working relationships” with Canadian colleagues and that screening is constantly improving, but it isn’t planning any bigger changes to its visa program.
“National security is our top priority when adjudicating visa applications,” a department representative said in a statement.
“At this time, we have no changes to our visa application process to announce.”
The United States has also become less appealing to Nigerians as a place to stay rather than to pass through, they say.
Many took personally two comments reportedly made by Trump, one last June about Nigerian immigrants going “back to their huts” and another in January about African, shole countries.
Winning U.S. asylum claims has become much harder, as well.
The approval rate dropped 26 per cent from 2016 to 2017, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services statistics compiled by Human Rights First.
The Washington-based group’s Director of Refugee Protection, Eleanor Acer, said Canada was well aware that, for many people, the only way to claim asylum in any country was to get a visitor visa first.
“It’s shocking and disappointing that they are trying to encourage another country to deny visas to people who are, in some cases, legitimately seeking protection from persecution,” she said.
As a signatory to international conventions, Acer said, Canada should open its doors further and “actually terminate its Safe Third Country Agreement. If the United States is simply not meeting that standard, given its harsh treatment of asylum seekers.”
Canadian officials have said they are not looking to abandon the agreement, although last week, they struck a slightly different tone.
Given the current numbers of asylum seekers, “we have contingency plans,” Genest said.
“That being said, we are constantly in conversation with the U.S., making sure that the Safe Third Country Agreement is working for both countries.”
Many of Canada’s new asylum seekers may end up disappointed. Of asylum claims processed last year, a minority of the total awaiting adjudication, more than half of the Nigerians were rejected, a significant jump from the previous three years, and nearly three-quarters of the Haitians were rejected, up from about half.
The Rivers State Investment Promotion Agency (RSIPA) has unveiled measures to enthrone ease of doing business and win back the confidence of the business community.
The Director-General of the Agency, Dr Chamberlain Peterside, unveiled the plans at the Breakout Session of RSIPA at the ongoing 18th Port Harcourt International Trade Fair, at the Obi Wali International Cultural Centre, in Port Harcourt.
Dr. Peterside said the agency was poised to free the state from accumulation of wrong narratives that branded it over the years as unsafe for business.
He, however, admitted that many things had gone wrong in the past where regulators joined to make the business environment difficult for investors.
He announced that the agency was rather focused on actions, solutions, and results as adopted in the mission statement of the Board.
“Our task is no mean feat. We are dealing with the perception risk that over several years branded the state as unsafe. We are also faced with the challenges of dealing with the lack of cohesion amongst MDAs, policy inconsistencies, multiple taxation, incessant harassment by miscreants, red tape and delays in obtaining operating permits, high cost of operations and opaque public sector,” he said.
“It is about listening to the investors in the field and ensuring that MDAs are carried along, hence the imperative for the setting up of our One-Stop-Center”, he added.
In his remarks, the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Warisenibo Joe Johnson, who represented the state governor, said the Fubara administration was ready to listen to the business community to see ways of reducing impediments to investments.
He listed the stages of actions being undertaken by the governor as outlined in his 37-page blue print to revive the economy of Rivers State.
The Mayor of Housing, My-ACE China, who was presented at the event as a star investor and promoter of Rivers State reputation, said for the plans of the investment promotion agency to materialize, an enabling law should replace the Executive Order that established the Rivers State Investment Promotion Agency.
He said this would insulate the agency from political instability and remove fear in the minds of investors about its sustainability.
According to him, protection precedes promotion and Local Direct Investment (LDIs) is what attracts and promotes Foreign Direct Investment (FDIs).
“It is the rat at home that reveals to the one in the bush that there is fish in the kitchen”, he added.
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?The Mayor of Housing who is also the CEO of the Alesa Highlands Sustainable Green Smart City said that Port Harcourt is like a business empire under lock and key because it is not protecting its own and also not promoting its own enough for investors to come in.
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?In the area of land documentation and inventory, China urged Rivers State Government to borrow a leaf from Abuja and adopt the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in dealing with land and property registration and documentation for ease of doing business.
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?He said Lagos understood the power of business information, adding “this creates the impression that if you are not doing it in Lagos, you are not doing it in Africa.
“We need to shout louder than Lagos, because we need more investments than Lagos and the structural integrity of Abuja. When you marry both, Rivers State would be wonderful and become green with investments,” he said.
In her speech, the President of Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (PHCCIMA), Dr. Chinyere Nwoga, called on the state government to look into the menace of parked trucks now turning Trans-Amadi into a risk zone.
She outlined the activities of the PHCCIMA and invited investors and businesses to the Port Harcourt economic hub, saying peace has returned.
The Director, Investors Relations of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC), Mrs Lovina Kayode, urged Rivers State to make haste and catch up on Ease of Doing Business, saying the Council has come to help businesses in the state.
Mrs Kayode, who represented the Executive Secretary/CEO of NIPC, Aisha Rimi, commended the Mayor of Housing and his counterpart, Mr. Oliver Biedima of Rainbow Heritage Group, for their decision to invest in Rivers State, saying it is a proof that Rivers State is safe for investors and their investments.
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In his remarks, Oliver Biedemi of Rainbow Heritage Group urged government to give the private investors chance to develop the economy, saying ordinarily government does not have the funds to develop the economy.
Happy Birthday Chief Barr. Nyesom Ezenwo Wike CON
Honourable Minister Federal Capital Territory
News
We’ll Drive Tinubu’s Vision in Rivers With Vigour – Fubara …Inaugurates Dualized Ahoada/Omoku Road ….Debunks Rift With RSHA
Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has stated that he will lead Rivers people to galvanize support for President Bola Tinubu to drive the vision and objectives of the Renewed Hope Agenda in the State with vigour.
The governor, who joined the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), on Tuesday, explained that his decision to join the APC was not for personal interest but for the overall benefit of Rivers State.
Fubara disclosed these while inaugurating the extension of the dualized Ahoada/ Omoku Express road in Ahoada East and Ogba Egbema Ndoni Local Government Areas of Rivers State.
He commended the contracting firm, Julius Berger, for timely delivery of the project, saying the project is a campaign promise fulfilled which will bring economic benefits to the people and tackle issues of insecurity associated with the route.
He said his administration has remained focused in delivering democratic dividends in the state despite facing glaring challenges.
The governor thanked the people of Ahoada East and Ogba Egbema Ndoni Local Government Areas for their continuous support, and urged his supporters to remain steadfast and also support President Tinubu who he said, has demonstrated love to Rivers State as a father.
Fubara denied having rift with the Rivers State House of Assembly, stating that his meeting with the lawmakers was stalled as a result of delay in the agreed meeting to be convened by former Governor Nyesom Wike and other stakeholders for him to meet with the state lawmakers.
“I have made every effort to meet with the Assembly members, but it is not within my leadership to initiate the meeting process.
“The arrangement was for my leader, Wike, and the elders led by Anabraba to call for a meeting with the the lawmakers.
“I’m a gentleman and principled. I can’t go behind to call them when we’ve already agreed. Whoever that tell them that I don’t want to meet with them, or I rejected proposal meant for them isn’t saying the truth,” Fubara said.
The Permanent Secretary of the Rivers State Ministry Works, Mr Austin Ezekiel-Hart, who gave the project description, said the delivery of the project was a fulfillment of long time dream by the people of Ahoada East and Ogba Egbema Ndoni Local Government Areas.
He said the road was previously a single lane and has now been dualised to 14.6 meters wide, complete with solar-powered streetlights with drainages.
He said the road significantly would reduce travel time between Ahoada and Omoku while improving economic activity in the region.
In his welcome address, Chairman of Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local Government Area, Hon. Chuku Shedrack Ogbogu, described the road as a symbol of unity, oneness, and development, thanking the governor for fulfilling his campaign promises.
On his part, the Managing Director of Julius Berger, Engr. Peer Lusbash, said the project was awarded to his company in 2023 with a completion period of 18 months which was achieved in best quality.
He added that Julius Berger enjoyed a good support from the Fubara administration, and assured to complete all ongoing projects being handled by Julius Berger on specification, especially the Ring Road project which is a legacy project.
