News

The Comptroller-General of Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, Muhammad Babandede, has announced that the Service now has standard passport booklets in sufficient quantity for issuance, and has therefore directed Passport Control Officers to clear the backlog of all outstanding applications. A statement by NIS Public Relations Officer, Sunday James, says the CG has appealed to the general public to bear with …

Nigeria and the EU are working on an agreement to facilitate the repatriation of Nigerians living illegally in EU countries, reveals Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, on Sunday in Abuja. The EU for now, he explained, was trying to have a collective agreement with Nigeria covering all the EU countries so that there can just be a one-stop-shop …

The Gambia’s long-time opposition party won an absolute majority in Thursday’s parliamentary elections, easily defeating the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) of ousted leader Yahya Jammeh, according to the results announced today. Official results issued by the Independent Electoral Commission showed the United Democratic Party (UDP) had won 31 of the 53 available elected seats in the country’s …

Voices critical of the activities of non-governmental humanitarian groups rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean are growing louder. Several Italian politicians have pointedly accused these lifesavers of encouraging people smugglers in Libya, who send out migrants in rickety boats in the direction of Europe with the expectation that these persons will be saved at sea. Judith Sunderland, associate Europe and Central Asia …

The wave of deportations of Nigerians from European countries continues unabated as 50 of them were forcibly repatriated on Thursday from Germany,  Switzerland, Sweden, Luxembourg, Austria, Belgium, Spain and Hungary. The 48 males and two females arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, in a chartered aircraft. According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the deportees were sent back …

The number of African organisations in Germany is astounding. More than 700 African clubs and associations support projects in Africa or promote sporting activities and African culture in Germany. At the same time they also support integration into German society. However, like all voluntary organisations they depend on donations. MoneyGram, one of the world’s leading providers of innovative money-transfer solutions …

 – MISRATA, Libya (Reuters) – Libyan authorities on Wednesday (5 April) released 28 Eritreans and seven Nigerians who were captured and enslaved by Islamic State in Sirte and had been held in detention since the jihadist group lost the city in December. The group, all but two of whom are women and children, escaped from Sirte, a former Islamic State …

Benin’s parliament narrowly rejected a draft bill by President Patrice Talon on Tuesday for a referendum to reform the constitution, including a provision to reduce presidential terms from the current two to one. Lawmakers voted on Monday 60 to 22 in favour of the bill, with one abstention, but it needed 63 out of the total of 83 available votes …

Asylum seekers’ chances of staying in Germany depend not only on threats they may face back home, but also in which German state they filed their applications, a study has shown. Its co-author has criticized this as an “asylum lottery.” Asylum seekers in the German states of Saarland and Bremen are most likely to be granted asylum, according to a …

An Archbishop-elect who sexually assaulted a teenage girl and a woman during private prayer sessions has been jailed by a court in London. Benjamin Egbujor, 55, of Harold Avenue, Belvedere, Kent, has been sentenced at Inner London Crown Court to three years and four months’ imprisonment, after he was found guilty of sexual assault and causing or inciting a child …

The UK is the most corrupt country on earth, using Gibraltar, Jersey and other territories to funnel dirty cash. That’s the view of anti-mafia journalist Roberto Saviano who claims the financial services industry in London facilitates worldwide criminal capitalism. ‘‘Transparency groups have shown this with irrefutable data. The UK is already the most, without doubt, the most corrupt country in …

Nigerians living outside the country have praised the passing of the Diaspora Commission Bill by the Senate. The Bill, after the President has assented to it, provides for the establishment of the Nigerian Citizens in Diaspora Commission to ensure the protection of Nigerians in Diaspora, and promote and facilitate their effective participation in economic, political and social development of the nation. …

FIFA has granted media rights to five major broadcasting entities in the sub-Saharan Africa region for all 2017-2018 FIFA events, after an open tender process for 42 territories*. This includes the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The following broadcasters have been awarded certain media rights with regard to the 2018 FIFA World Cup: ▪ Econet …

Fifteen footballers from Cameroon and one from Belgium have been detained in the Crimean village of Ordzhonikidze for attempting to stay in the country illegally. The players from FC Yaounde II, the second string of Cameroon premier division side FC Yaounde, were taking part in the Open Winter Cup organized by the Crimean Football Union (CFU) in February. For the …

Germany’s upper house of the federal parliament Bundesrat has approved the federal government’s plan to make drivers pay for using the country’s highways. Neighbouring countries have threatened to take legal action. Ben Knight reports. The Bundesrat finally passed Germany’s highway toll bill on Friday. The upper house of the German parliament, made up of the 16 state governments, voted for …

  Just a day after activists prevented a plane carrying dozens of Ghanaian and Nigerian would-be expellees from taking off at London’s Stansted Airport, 23 Nigerians were deported from the United Kingdom on Friday. The all male deportees, who were sent back to their home country for various immigration offences, arrived at the Lagos Murtala Muhammed International Airport at about …

  Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor of Pan-African News Wire, pays tribute to the politician, former political prisoner and anti-apartheid activist, who died on 28 March. “Kathy”, as he was popularly known, was elected to parliament in 1994  but declined to seek re-election five years later. He wrote an open letter to President Jacob Zuma, suggesting that perhaps he should step down …

It was drama at the Stansted airport in London on Tuesday as activists prevented the mass deportation of Nigerians and Ghanaians. The activists, working under the name Stop Charter Flights – End Deportations, blocked the runway of the Stansted airport carrying banners and chanting songs condemning deportations. A video recording showed some of them were under the wing of a …

Britain formally launched the process for leaving the European Union today, nine months after the island nation voted to leave the EU. Britain became the first country ever to seek a divorce, striking a blow at the heart of the union forged from the ashes of World War II. Just days after the Union’s 60th birthday, Britain handed over a …

Germany’s Christian-Democratic Union (CDU) party won Saarland’s state election on Sunday, with 40.7 percent, far ahead of the Social-Democratic Party (SPD), with 29.6 percent. The closely-watched election in the small, western state, which was the first since Martin Schulz became SDP leader, was seen as a test for him and CDU’s Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of the September general elections. …