This was made known in a statement signed by the Spokesperson, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, on Wednesday.

Chizoba was said to have died in Kaliti prison, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on March 12, 2023, following alleged physical aggression.

Balogun said the NIDCOM Chairman, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, consoled the family of the late Eze and expressed concern over the reported conditions of some Nigerians, serving various jail terms in Ethiopia, most of whom were drug-related.

The statement read, “The Nigerian Mission in Ethiopia has proposed an MOU from the Nigerian Correctional Service on the transfer of sentenced persons to Nigeria with the Ethiopian authorities to complete their respective jail terms in Nigeria, and are awaiting a response from Ethiopia.

“Though Ethiopia had granted an amnesty to Nigerian Prisoners in 2019, a number of Nigerians still found their way back to the country and allegedly still committed the same drug-related crimes and were re-arrested.”

Stakeholders said the ban which took effect on Tuesday October 4, would create some hiccups in travel to Ethiopia.

The management of Ethiopian Airlines, the national airline of Ethiopia, had informed travel partners of the new development.

Prior to the said ban, the passengers travelling to Ethiopia or transiting through the country from Nigeria could easily obtain a visa on arrival (VOA) on getting to Bole International Airport, Addis-Ababa.

According to the publication, a memo sent by Ethiopian Airlines to travel partners read; “Please be informed that effective immediate No More Visa on Arrival for Nigerian citizens.Passengers are to obtain their visa at the Ethiopian Embassy in Abuja before traveling. Please note that: Passengers transiting overnight in Addis Ababa are not affected by the ban. E.g. passengers having layover in Addis to travel the next morning to Zanzibar, Seycheles, Lusaka, Lilongwe, Harare, Cape Town, etc are not affected by the ban and do not need transit visa for their trips.”

President of the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA), Mrs. Susan Akporiaye however told the publication that the information she got from a senior official of Ethiopian Airlines was that the issue has not been confirmed.

A travel agent who spoke on the development said;

“We are still studying the development. We have reached out to some officials of Ethiopian Airlines, though they did not deny it but they said it is not confirmed yet.”

A Meta spokesperson said the post was removed “for violating our policies against inciting and supporting violence”.

But in a separate post on Wednesday that remains online, Abiy vowed: “to bury this enemy with our blood and bones and uplift Ethiopia’s dignity”.

In September the US State Department condemned a speech by a prominent Abiy adviser which compared Tigrayan rebels to the Devil and said they should be “the last of their kind”.

Washington has been among the most vocal critics of Ethiopia’s conduct of the year-long war in the country’s north.

But despite repeated calls for an end to violence, militant rhetoric has persisted from both sides.

Abiy’s government has been locked in a war for the past year with the TPLF, which dominated national politics before he took office in 2018.

The 2019 Nobel Peace laureate promised a swift victory, but by late June the rebels had retaken most of Tigray and expanded into the neighbouring regions of Afar and Amhara.

The TPLF announced late Wednesday it had reached the town of Kemissie in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, some 325 kilometres (200 miles) northeast of the capital.

Spokesman Getachew Reda said the TPLF was working in the area alongside the Oromo Liberation Army rebel group, which on Wednesday predicted Addis Ababa could fall in a matter of weeks.

But a senior official from Washington’s humanitarian arm USAID warned of grave repercussions for Ethiopia’s already acute aid problems. We can only assume that any march towards Addis would spread increased displacement, increased need and increased suffering for the Ethiopian people. It would certainly increase the need for humanitarian assistance while also complicating the ability to provide that assistance.”

The unexpected announcement by the Ethiopian government also comes after reports of anti-government troops advancing in the streets of Tigray’s capital, Mekelle.

More than five million people are in urgent need of food aid, the UN says, with 350,000 facing famine while the Ethiopian government has been accused of carrying out mass killings and human rights violations.

After the government forces took control of Tigray last month, reports began to emerge on Monday, June 28, that the Tigrayan fighters had recaptured Mekelle after launching a new offensive last week.

Getachew Reda, a spokesperson for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), told news agency Reuters the city was now ‘under their control’.

An unnamed source within the interim government told news agency AFP “everyone has left”, while two eyewitnesses told Reuters Tigrayan soldiers were seen in Mekelle while Ethiopian troops have pulled out of the region.

As of press time, Ethiopia’s government is yet to comment on a report that its troops have retreated.

UN children’s agency Unicef has issued a statement, condemning national Ethiopian soldiers who, they say, entered their office and forcibly dismantled their satellite equipment.

Reports in Mekelle and posts on social media appear to show supporters of the Tigrayan rebels parading with flags.

The TPLF has called on the city’s residents to stay calm and collaborate with its forces.

Last November Ethiopia’s government launched an offensive to oust the region’s then ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

The TPLF had a massive fallout with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed over political changes to the country’s ethnically based federal system but the invasion came after the TPLF’s capture of military bases in Tigray.

Thousands of people have been killed since the conflict while tens of thousands have found refuge in neighbouring Sudan.

The freed Nigerians in a Save Our Soul (SoS) message lamented that despite their pardon on March 26 to decongest prisons in response to COVID-19 pandemic, the embassy had refused to clear them.

It was gathered that out of 4,011 prisoners of different nationalities released by Ethiopia to return to their countries, only Nigerians were left stranded in the detention facility.

One of the affected Nigerians, Charles Okeke, who spoke on behalf of others, said they were serving their prison terms at the Kaliti Federal Prison before their pardon.

He said the Consular-General sent members of the Nigerian Embassy to them on April 6th to collect their passports with a promise that the Federal Government would send a flight to take them back home.

Okeke said two weeks later, the embassy asked them to pay $1000 each for their flight ticket and $50 each for their exit visa adding that all of them mounted pressure on their family members at home and paid the fees.

“After paying that money, they gave us a date to travel, which was May 31st. But three days before the deadline, they told us that the Federal Government of Nigeria has put on hold the evacuation process because of new COVID-19 travel protocol. They told us that all the intending evacuees must undergo COVID-19 tests five to nine days before boarding. But they said they were working for us to skip the test. We later found out that it was a delay strategy.

“On June 3rd, we wrote to the embassy pleading with them to allow us undergo the test. They came and conducted the tests and three days later, the results came out and we all tested negative.

“On June 23, the embassy called us and said we would be leaving on June 24th and that our flight will take off at 9:30 am. On that same day, the embassy called us to hold on that an order came from Abuja and that a new date would be communicated to us”.

Okeke, however said since then no date had been fixed for their evacuation and wondered why they were left stranded while the government successfully conducted evacuations of stranded Nigerians in other countries.

“The embassy has forgotten the plight of Nigerians pardoned by the Ethiopian Government. We have made all efforts since then to contact the Consular-General and all our efforts proved abortive. The Ethiopian Airline left from Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa to Abuja on July 16 but we were left behind after paying $1050 each for a charted flight.

“They gave us pardon with other African nations. Every other countries have evacuated all their citizens apart from Nigeria. Those from Congo, Tanzania, Mozambique, Brazil, Venezuela and other European countries have brought their citizens back home.

“ We are 60 and we are stranded. The embassy is quiet despite collecting our money. All the blames go to the embassy. We expected them to at least take us to Addis Ababa because the prison authorities are tired. Come clear us from the prison. We can pay for our hotel bills. We are begging the Nigerian Government to assist us. We want to leave this pandemic zone,” he said.

Nigeria, Algeria, Angola, Ivory Coast, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia were identified as African nations with direct links or a high volume of travel to China.

The statement read “WHO has identified 13 top priority countries (Algeria, Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia) which either have direct links or a high volume of travel to China. To ensure rapid detection of the novel coronavirus, it is important to have laboratories which can test samples and WHO is supporting countries to improve their testing capacity. Since this is a new virus, there are currently only two referral laboratories in the African region which have the reagents needed to conduct such tests. However, reagent kits are being shipped to more than 20 other countries in the region, so diagnostic capacity is expected to increase over the coming days. Active screening at airports has been established in a majority of these countries and while they will be WHO first areas of focus, the organization will support all countries in the region in their preparation efforts. It is critical that countries step up their readiness and in particular put in place effective screening mechanisms at airports and other major points of entry to ensure that the first cases are detected quickly”.

The main awards ceremony would be held from November 6 to 9, later in the year, which would be preceded by a Welcome Soiree, AFRIMA Music Village, a tour, Africa Music Business Summit and an exclusive Nominees’ Party.

Activities leading up to the main awards ceremony include submission by African music professionals either living on the continent or in the diaspora is expected to submit their entries which are globally open on www.afrima.org from May 15 to August 2.
There would also be a pre-screening process by the screening committee of AFRIMA from August 3 to 5, followed by the AFRIMA Adjudication process from August 6 to August 12 to be conducted by an independent international jury comprising of a 13-member panel of experienced and respected African music experts and practitioners.

On August 13, a world media announcement of AFRIMA nominee list would be publicly unveiled to declare nominated African artists or works and on August 19 , there would be a voting process to be conducted on AFRIMA’s website by music fans and followers across the globe.