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FG Rolls Out Enhanced Passport In Canada [PHOTOS]

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Nigerians living in Canada will now have access to the highly coveted 64-page 10-year validity passport as the Federal Government on Tuesday rolled out the new enhanced passport and commissioned the central Passport Production Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Speaking during the launch in Canada, Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, stated that Nigeria is amongst the first five countries in the world to have this enhanced passport and the first in Africa.

“The enhanced version we are presenting is the latest technology in identity documentation. It comes with additional security and in various categories, including the 64-page-10-year validity Passport which is quite convenient for frequent travellers.

“It is a product of the latest technology in passport administration and issuance. Only very few countries in the world can boast of it as of today. Indeed, Nigeria is among the first five countries in the world and the first in Africa to have this enhanced e-passport. The document is of higher grade with additional 25 security features than the one currently in use. It is polycarbonate in design and therefore water-resistant. It cannot be compromised by counterfeiters and identity thieves,” the Minister revealed.

The Minister commended the Nigerian High Commissioner to Canada for his commitment to ensuring that Canada had its own passport production centre, stating that with the new enhanced passport, Nigerians will now apply, pay and book appointment online directly from the Nigeria Immigration Service Portal.

“It is important that all applicants go through the Nigeria Immigration Service portal and follow the protocol laid down, pay the right fee and go for biometric data capture on the stipulated date. The waiting period after data capture for fresh application is six weeks and three weeks for renewal. This timeline is to enable NIS verify and validate the claims of applicants and confer integrity on the passport issued. It is a reasonable provision in passport administration by global standard.

“It is important also that your details with NIN sync with the data on your application. Any discrepancy will stall your application until it is corrected. The order of the appearance of the applicant’s name especially has been an albatross for many. We have introduced tracking mechanism in the application process, to enable applicants monitor the progress of their application. We shall continue to introduce necessary and available innovations to passport administration in order to best serve applicants in our quest for establishing citizenship integrity”, the Minister stated.

The Nigerian High Commissioner to Canada, Mr. Adeyinka Asekun in his own remarks, commended the Minister of interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and the Acting Comptroller General of Immigration, Isah Idris Jere, for their commitment to the launch of the enhanced passport in Canada. He stated that thanks to the good work the Immigration is doing, Nigerians in Canada now have access to 64-page 10-year validity passport which is only available in the United Kingdom and United States of America outside of Nigeria.

“I thank the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, and the Immigration team for accepting to roll-out the enhanced passport in Canada as the third country to be a beneficiary of the enhanced passport outside of Nigeria and ahead of other nations, including in Europe.

“I will advice that Nigerians living in Canada should apply for the 64-page 10-year validity and you can apply at least one year before the expiration of the current passport”, the High Commissioner stated.

Also speaking during the event, the Acting Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Idris Isah Jere, noted that until all applications on the old platforms are cleared, the Passport Issuing Desk in Canada will continue to issue both documents concurrently.

“May I mention that the Enhanced e-Passport and the Electronic Passports are both running currently until a convenient time when all our Centres would have been fully migrated to the enhanced e-Passport noting that cases of delays in processing Passports will be taken care of, provided applicants abide strictly with the application guidelines by ensuring that they make use of the online application and payment platform, as well as synchronize the data on their passport application with their information in their National Identity Number (NIN),” CG Idris Jere said.

At the event were Nigerians living in Canada, diplomats, technical partners, immigration attachés amongst others.

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Runaway Nigerian Nurse Arrested In Lagos, Extradited To US For Trial Over Fraud

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A convicted Nigerian fugitive, Florence Enwerim Onyegbu, was on Thursday, extradited to the United States of America, where she is wanted to answer to criminal charges bordering on the violation of the U.S. law involving the offer and payment of illegal remuneration in a health care matter.

Onyegbu‘s extradition was coordinated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, following a request by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI,  seeking assistance for her apprehension.

The EFCC said its investigations revealed that she had changed her name from Florence E. Onyegbu to Janet Boi in an attempt to remain hidden.

But that she however ran out of luck when operatives of the EFCC swooped on her at her residence in the Ojodu area of Lagos on February 21, 2022.

The anti-graft agency said that upon her arrest, a national identity card with the name Janet Boi as well as a Texas driver’s license with the name Florence Enwerim Onyegbu were found on her.

The Commission, on March 22, 2023, handed over Onyegbu to the FBI, following an extradition order granted by Justice Z.B. Abubakar of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on December 2, 2022.

It will be recalled that Onyegbu’s travails began after she was arrested on February 12, 2011 in the U.S. and subsequently sentenced to 46 months imprisonment, following a guilty plea , over the violation of the U.S. law bordering on the offer and payment of illegal remuneration in a health care matter.

Although she was ordered to report for service of her sentence on April 4, 2011, she failed to surrender on that date.

Consequently, she was further charged with failure to surrender for service of sentence in violation of U.S. Law on March 4, 2013.

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JUST IN: CBN Directs Banks To Open On Saturday, Sunday

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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has confirmed the evacuation of banknotes from its vaults to commercial banks across the country as part of a coordinated effort to ease the circulation of banknotes of various denominations.

The CBN has also directed all commercial banks to open for operation on Saturdays and Sundays.

The Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department of the CBN, Isa AbdulMumin, disclosed this in Abuja, on Friday, stating that a substantial amount of money, in various denominations, had been received by the commercial banks for onward circulation to their respective customers.

According to him, the CBN had directed all banks to load their Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) as well as conduct physical operations in the banking halls through the weekends.

“Branches of commercial banks will operate on Saturdays and Sundays to attend to customers’ cash needs,” he noted, adding that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, would personally lead teams to monitor the level of compliance by the banks in various locations across the country.

He, therefore, urged Nigerians to be patient as the current situation would ease soon with the injection of more banknotes into circulation.

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CJN Olukayode Ariwoola Returns to Nigeria After Medical Check-Up In London

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The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, has reportedly returned to Nigeria after seeking medical attention in London, the United Kingdom.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and an ally of the Supreme Court head, Ahmed Raji, made this known in a statement on Thursday in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

Raji disclosed that Justice Ariwoola went to London on Saturday for his routine medical check-up and returned to the country on Thursday morning.

He also described the reports that the CJN was sighted in London in a wheelchair, purportedly planning to meet with the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as false and aimed at tarnishing the image of the apex court and the chief justice.

Raji, therefore, urged Nigerians to resist the attempts by politicians to paint the judiciary as bad so as to achieve their selfish interests.

He said: “It is in the news since Tuesday evening that Tinubu was traveling to Europe for medical reasons as well as for lesser hajj, further reports indicated that he is in France to meet with his medical doctor, why would somebody now link that to the CJN that has left Nigeria for the UK since Saturday to observe his own medical session and just came back today (Thursday) as a meeting?

“Our politicians need to allow due process to take control, election matters are in the law courts, but that does not mean that the law Lords will not live their normal lives as human beings, Tinubu is in France and the CJN was in London, where is the contact?“

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