Tag Archives: Foreign Affairs

South African Government seems to have no control over Xenophobic attacks – Minister

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The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mrs Khadija Bukar-Abba, says no Nigerian was killed in the recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa.

The minister disclosed this on Tuesday while briefing members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs on what the Nigerian Government is doing to protect its citizens in South Africa from attacks.

She said the government would send a delegation to the country to ascertain what the issues were with the aim of finding solutions.

After the last xenophobic attack in April 2015 where 10 deaths were recorded and properties looted or destroyed, Nigerians in South Africa are still seeking compensation for destroyed properties.

However, Bukar-Abba told the committee that no compensation has been paid by the government.

The committee expressed displeasure at the manner with which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has so far handled the crisis.

A member of the committee, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, called for hard hitting actions from Nigeria to address what has become a regular occurrence in South Africa.

The senators strongly condemned the recent attacks and looting of Nigerian-owned businesses in Pretoria West in South Africa.

The Nigerian community, led by Mr Ikechukwu Anyene, said they had reported the incident to the Nigeria Mission and South African Police.

The Senior Special Assistant to Nigeria’s President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Honourable Abike Dabiri-Erewa, in a statement described the attacks as an unnecessary setback.

She advised Nigerians to be extra cautious, saying it appears the South African Government seems to have no control over the attacks.

Ambassadorial List: Senate Summons SGF, Foreign Affairs Minister

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The Senate on Wednesday summoned the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, and the Foreign Affairs Minister, Geofrey Onyeama, over the lopsided list of 47 career diplomats sent to the red chamber about two weeks ago.

They alleged that some states were excluded from the list whereas some states had up to three nominees.

Apart from this, the senators also explained that there were specific petitions against some nominees, who were said to have been picked ahead of their senior colleagues from their states of origin.

The Chief Whip, Olusola Adeyeye, cited the case of two directors on level 17, from the same state who were dropped for a junior officer.

He said, “The two of them are in fact, already on level 17 and in making the recommendations many who are junior to them in experience and in status have been elevated above them. They therefore want some intervention from the chamber to be sure that correct process is followed.

“They also said that there are those who have served the republic meritoriously who did not get passed because of whatever might be the internal politics of the ministry.

“So, I plead that relevant committee and this chamber would take a second look at this prayer.

“We should direct that the minister for foreign affairs, and the SGF to appear before the committee on foreign affairs to explain the omissions and irregularities and the processes by which some of these names came about.”

Credit: Punch

Why “ISIS Fugitive Leader” Was Issued Visa, Foreign Affairs Official Explains

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Radical Lebanese Islamic cleric, Ahmad Al-Assir, who was arrested last week as he attempted traveling to Nigeria, got an entry visa into Nigeria because the country’s embassies do not capture applicants’ biometric data, an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Biometrics cover a variety of unique identifiable attributes of people including fingerprint, iris print, hand, face, voice, gait or signatures, and are used for identification and authentication.

The foreign affairs official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said with the surge of security breaches and religious fundamentalism, biometric capturing has become a norm yet, Nigeria, currently battling Boko Haram insurgency, has failed to utilise the technology.

“While the measure tends to pre-empt influx of terrorists instead they (sic) depend on the use of stop list for potential visa applicants,” the official said.

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