London
Bridge is falling down,Falling down, falling down, London Bridge is
falling down,My fair… Just about every educated person is familiar with
the traditional nursery rhyme “London Bridge Is Falling Down” which
deals with the collapsing London Bridge and attempts, realistic or
fanciful, to repair it. Several theories have been advanced to explain
the meaning of the rhyme and identity of the “fair lady” of the refrain.
However, the meaning of the rhyme and identity of the ‘fair lady’ are
no longer mysteries for the average Nigerian traveller on whose face
the London bridge seems to have collapsed.
Rated the 6th largest oil producing nation in the world, Nigeria is
also termed the “Giant of Africa” and its dense population makes it the
most populous black nation in the world. But it does appear that all
the appellations are nothing but self-adulation as they hold no sway
whenever America and Britain decide to impose varying degrees of
sanctions on the nation.
Saturday Vanguard’s LEVINUS NWABUGHIOGU, in this special report,
samples opinions regarding the recent imposition of 3,000 Pounds
Sterling Travel bonds on Nigerians by the Government of the United
Kingdom.
Again, Britain has sneezed and sent shivers down the spines of
Nigerians. Like in some theatrical stance, both countries have continued
to demonstrate that once upon a time, they lived as mother and
daughter. And so, from time to time, Britain stirs up a controversy
suggestive of the fact that She “discovered”, colonized and reluctantly
later gave independence to Nigeria.
Just on Monday this week, news made the rounds that the Government of
the United Kingdom (UK) had plans to impose 3,000 pounds as travel
bonds on the citizens of six countries, among them Nigeria, Ghana,
Bangladesh, Sri-Lanka, Pakistan and India.
While Nigeria and Ghana are West-African countries, the rest are
Asian – all bearing the tag “high risk” countries. Interestingly, the
other countries were also colonized by Britain and so, with that, are
tucked into the conglomerate of the Commonwealth Nations.
But that is an intimacy that seems to be lost on the home policy of
the British Government each time the need arises. Instead, Britain
always appears brutish and lashes out heavily on these countries. Such
was the case when the country came up with the new travel policy during
the week.
Hear the British Home Secretary, Ms. Theresa May, who said: “This is
the next step in making sure our immigration system is more selective,
bringing down net migration from the hundreds of thousands to the tens
of thousands, while still welcoming the brightest and the best to
Britain.”
She added: “In the long run, we’re interested in a system of bonds
that deters overstaying and recovers costs if a foreign national has
used our public services.
“Consequently, from November, a pilot scheme which will target
visitors from those countries who will have to pay the UK government a
form of cash guarantee or deposit to deter immigration abuse will
commence. They will forfeit the £3,000 if they overstay in Britain and
fail to return to their home countries by the time their visa has
expired.”
Apart from security reasons which many believe prompted the charges,
sources also disclosed that the Home Office of the British Government
might as well be targeting countries with high volumes of visitor visa
applications and what it deems to be relatively high levels of fraud and
abuse.
Meanwhile, the development came as a shock even though it wasn’t the
first time the British Government would be imposing stringent sanctions
on the country. Since then, a lot of concerns have been raised by
Nigerians just as some democratic institutions such as the National
Assembly, in stout defence of Nigerian citizens in Britain, have also
threatened to reciprocate the hostile measure.
A peep into history indicates that in September 1986, the Margaret
Thatcher administration decided, at the end of a cabinet meeting that in
future, travelers from Nigeria, India, Ghana, Bangladesh and Pakistan
would need to obtain visas in their own countries before traveling.
Before the 1986 decision, nationals of all Commonwealth nations, except Sri Lanka, did not need visas to travel to the UK.
Justifying the decision, Home Secretary at the time, Douglas Hurd, said:
“We have to have immigration checks, and I think it is more sensible
that these checks are carried out before someone sets off on a journey.”
Reacting, the opposition Labour Party described the Thatcher
government decision on visa requirements for the five countries as
racist. Then shadow home secretary in the Labour Party, Gerald Kaufman,
said: “It is typical of this government that in future, white visitors
from racialist South Africa will be able to come here without a visa
while a visa will be required for parents and other family members of
British citizens living and working in this country.”
But as the country heats up, many Nigerians have evaluated the
measure and appear divided in their views. While some bemoaned the UK
government’s decision, many lashed out at the Nigerian Government and
the elite whom they said had not made the country any better for the
people.
They were also emphatic about the dilapidated social infrastructure
and poor living conditions which the government has refused to improve
on.
But at the time of filing this report, there were speculations that
the British government might rescind the decision – though no step in
that direction had been taken.
Meanwhile, Saturday Vanguard exclusively sought the views of some
Nigerians on the issue and below were the excerpts of that encounter.
Must we go to UK?—Ambassador Leo Okougwu, Ex-Nigerian Envoy to Romania and Bulgaria
If you are going to a foreign country, you prepare for it. If you are
overstaying, then please, ask the host country, let them know that you
are overstaying and this is the reason why you are overstaying. It is a
very simple exercise. But if you are overstaying and the country doesn’t
know that you are overstaying, it is wrong.
If our Legislators made a law saying that this will happen if you
overstay in Nigeria, you have to pay a certain amount of money, then
that has to do with the sovereignty of that country. But if you don’t
want it that way, you must put certain things about other countries into
consideration before enacting your legislations. If the British did
that and looked at the circumstances in that case and then said, because
of the experience we have been having, this is what we are going to do
and they come up with a regulation and it is approved by their
parliament and you said you are going to oppose it?
If you want to go there and they said you have to deposit 3,000
pounds and you said you don’t have it, then, don’t go. Are they forcing
you to come? Must you go? Why must you go because you have money and
next door, you have people suffering? What for?
Develop your own tourism industry. Look at your hospitals. Equip
them. I tell you that the people you are going to meet in UK hospitals
might be Nigerian doctors. But why are they there? It is because you are
not encouraging them to come back home by having bad hospitals; by
having tacitly equipped hospitals. That’s why most of them are there.
Encourage your doctors to come home and do what they have to do.
Blame it on the leaders —Dr. Ogbonnaya Onuoha
The decision taken by the British is born out of national security
and national interest . Maybe there is national pride to stop other
nationals of countries of the world from getting quick
access into their country. If we have a good country, which I think we
do, but the leaders are not as good in their intervention as what we
have in other countries, it’s up to them to now ask the government why
it is so.
Nigerian leaders should bury their heads in shame—Annkio Briggs, Social Crusader and Human Rights Activist
Any government official that is arguing the demand that the British
government is making should know they have every right to make that
demand. If Nigeria doesn’t like it, they should also make the same
demand on the British citizens. But I think the government officials
should be ashamed of themselves that they are spending time arguing over
this issue.
It is actually an embarrassment to all Nigerians that we are singled
out in this manner and it is because of the lack of accountability and
the failure of government that has made this possible. It is not your
fault, it’s not the market man’s fault; it is the fault of the Senators
and the members of House that are now arguing the point. You see, you
and I don’t have that luxury. The man in the community and in the market
doesn’t have that luxury.
It is up to you and I, the man on the street, the man in the market
to make sure that our so-called politicians and the elected don’t
abandon us and fly out, and how do we do it? We do it by taking power,
by having people’s power and insisting that everybody must get medical
care here. That way, we will make sure that our hospitals work and our
roads are good.
As a human being and as somebody who will speak up against injustice,
whether in Nigeria or outside of Nigeria, I think that we shouldn’t
lose sight of the fact that the United Kingdom is a country and
therefore like Nigeria.
And the United Kingdom is a country governed by its own rules and
regulations. The UK, like Nigeria, has the right to change its laws when
it suits them against whomever they choose. The British government must
have a reason why it proposes this. But to someone who is aware, we
know that people, not just Nigerians, but people seeking greener
pastures travel to other countries like Europe and America.
All over Europe and America, people are dying in the desert trying to
get to places like Italy, Turkey and places like that. When you look at
that, you can begin to see why any country would want to make sure that
only the people they permit are in their country and that when they
tell you to come in for six months, or for two months, or two weeks for
medical reasons or for education or whatever, when you finish that you
will go.
The fact that people have overstayed and continue to over –stay,
whether we like it or not, is a strain on the country. It is an economic
strain on them. It is a social strain on them in the sense that, fair
enough, there was the issue of the young man who strapped a bomb to
himself on his way to America. The only reason why he boarded was to
blow off the plane.
This was a young man who traveled to the UK for studies, for
exposure. He got exposed in the UK and also had some level of contacts
while he was in Nigeria.
Then recently, the young man who is a Nigerian by the fact that his
parents are Nigerians but was born in the United Kingdom, tried to blow
up a plane. So I am just trying to say that if this is happening in
Nigeria, what will Nigerians do? Nigerians would be shutting their
borders so that people from Niger, people from Mali, Chad or Cameroon do
not cross into Nigeria illegally and perpetrate terrorist acts in
Nigeria.
It is a serious punishment on Nigeria and Nigerians —Chief Sam Nkire,
National Chairman of the Peoples Progressive Alliance (PPA)
I think the leadership of this country must protect its citizens. It
is a serious punishment on Nigerians and Nigeria has come a long way
with Britain. Nigeria was colonized by Britain and so many Nigerians
live in Britain and we haven’t been found wanting. We have always seen
Britain as our second home. So it will be very sad to have that kind of
imposition. If Britain wants to do that to other countries, I don’t
think it is right to do it to Nigeria.
I don’t think that should happen because it is a free world. If a
Briton wants to live in Nigeria, he is free to do that. If a Nigerian
wants to live in Britain, it is up to him. I don’t think there should be
any restriction. People should treat others fairly and equitably.
FG must protect Nigerian citizens….Chief Victor Umeh, National Chairman, All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA
Our Government must protect Nigerian citizens. That is very terrible.
It is like asking Nigerians not to come to the UK anymore. So, I
believe that our Ministry of Foreign Affairs with our Government will be
able to liaise with the British Government and get that policy
rescinded.
You canot restrict people from exercising their freedom of choice of
places where they can get treatments if they can afford those
treatments. But the important thing is that the pressure is on the
Government of Nigeria to make our medical facilities excellent so that
people can go to hospitals here, get treated and then go home without
wanting to go abroad. If our medical facilities are functional and
good enough, there will be no need for anybody to travel out of the country.
It shows the failure of Nigerian Government—Dr. Oladimeji Lawal, Public Administration, Gombe State University
It is a wake-up call for the country that we should build our nation.
We should understand the fact that there is no place in the world that
can never be a home. What the UK government attempted to do is a
demonstration of a serious country that is concerned about the influx of
people into its territory, that is concerned about the wellbeing of its
people and its infrastructure. So, it is not a reason why Nigeria
should be crazy about the UK asking you to come with 3,000 pounds and
all of that. I mean, there is no big deal about it.
It is not a must that you should travel out of the country. It is not
a must that you go and stay in another man’s land. Discover your own,
make it attractive and people will be looking forward to staying with
us, working and living with us if we have a comfortable environment.
What they have simply told us is that we cannot continue to rely on them
and then we should look inwards, develop our society, make our society
comfortable for people to stay, work and live.
So, there is no justification for the cry. It is their country and
they have made a policy as regards how they want to run their country,
the kind of people they want to admit into their territory and how long
they want you to stay. In terms of International Relations, it is a
demonstration of a serious, focused country. So, if we think we are
very responsible as a country, whether we go in there or not, it doesn’t
matter.
This is even time to reciprocate what the UK has done by saying that
the British national will have some millions of Naira before coming into
Nigeria to know whether we are the ones that will feel the effect or
them. The reactions of some Nigerians to this development these few days
practically demonstrates that our governments at all levels are not
serious of building a society where we find comfort and live peacefully.
It is insult on Nigerian people—–Comrade Yinka Odumakin, Human Rights Activist
It is a gratuitous insult on the people of Nigeria by the dwindled
British Empire. If after all the years of colonizing Nigeria the Brits
think they have not milked us enough, the Nigerian Government should
bare its teeth against British interests in Nigeria. When Abacha stopped
British Airways from flying to Nigeria, London had to beg.
Bottom-line:
Whether or not Britain reverses the decision, one thing the move has
succeeded in doing is telling the Nigerian government and the elite who
junket to the UK and similar places on a whim that the time to develop
local infrastructure is long over due.
A country that got her independence 53 years ago, in the reckoning
of many Nigerians, ought to have made itself the envy of the world. Once
again, the President Goodluck Jonathan administration has been
challenged to live up to its mandate.
Source:
vanguard
London
Bridge is falling down,Falling down, falling down, London Bridge is
falling down,My fair… Just about every educated person is familiar with
the traditional nursery rhyme “London Bridge Is Falling Down” which
deals with the collapsing London Bridge and attempts, realistic or
fanciful, to repair it. Several theories have been advanced to explain
the meaning of the rhyme and identity of the “fair lady” of the refrain.
When you appreciate others you will find that your relationships are
stronger, your circle of friends will grow wider, your career and
business will succeed beyond your expectations, and your life will
simply be happier. So who wouldn’t want all of that?! And how do we
make that happen?
When you hear the word “rich,” what do you think of? Yachts? Evening gowns? Travel?