The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyema; and Controller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Muhammed Babandede, who both appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs in Abuja on Tuesday explained how they were addressing issues affecting Nigerians in other countries.

At the two-day investigative hearing organised by the committee, which began on Tuesday, Onyema noted that the charges had been in existence and were only suspended.

The minister said, “The $100 Nigerians in the US said has been added is voluntary; it is just for those who want to have their biometrics done without an appointment. If you wait for your appointment, you will get it done and not pay. But if you want it the same day, then pay $100.”

Onyema also said his ministry planned to make Nigerians in the diaspora have access to a 24/7 call centre in Nigeria that would take complaints from across the world.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, announced the gains when he visited the Seme Border on Monday, along with Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama; Minister of Interior Rauf Aregbesola, Minister of State for Finance, Budget and National Planning Clement Agba, National Security Adviser Babagana Monguno and the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Immigration Service Muhammed Babandede

He said “There has been an enhanced production and milling of Nigerian rice. Patronage of Nigerian rice has also increased and farmers are expanding their farms as well as engaging more hands. ‘It is important to note that 95 percent of illicit drugs and weapons that are being used for acts of terrorism and kidnapping in Nigeria today come in through our porous borders. However, since this partial closure, these acts have been drastically reduced. Our conclusion is that the arms and ammunition these terrorists and criminal elements were using no longer gain access into the country. In addition, the importation of the drugs which affect the well-being of Nigerians have equally been reduced. As we speak, we have ships loaded with rice waiting to discharge (in Benin) and the target market is Nigeria (for Christmas). We have (MV Africana Jacana with 40,000 metric tons of rice, MV Zilos with 20,000 mts and MV Sam Jarguar with 45,000 MTS and others. Discussions on doing legitimate trade between Nigeria on one hand and Benin and Niger on the other, started in 2005. The discussions have led to MOUs in 2005, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, all designed to facilitating free movement of goods manufactured in their respective countries and work out the modalities through the Ministers of Trade of both countries for the realization of this objectives. It worth noting that there has never been legitimate transit trade between Nigeria and the two countries (Benin and Niger) For clarity, the ECOWAS protocol on transit demands that when a transit container berths at a seaport, the receiving country is mandated to escort same without tampering with the seal to the border of the destination country. Unfortunately, experience has shown that our neighbours do not comply with this protocol. Rather, they break the seals of containers at their ports and trans-load goods destined for Nigeria from the original container to trucks. In most cases five containers loaded onto one truck and duty paid as one truck. This improper trans-loading of transit goods makes it impossible to properly examine such goods, resulting in importation of illicit goods, including arms and ammunition, without being detected. Because goods are not examined, mis-classification and resultant loss of revenue become the ultimate consequence of this illegitimate transit trade”