As uproar mounts in Nigeria, India: UK halts £3000 visa bond
*Okonjo-Iweala, lawmakers threaten retaliation
Following growing opposition to the proposal by the British government to compel visitors to deposit £3000 visa bond, report indicates that British Prime Minister, David Cameron, has halted the implementation of the proposal.
The decision, it was learnt, was taken after news of the policy provoked uproar in Delhi, and threatened British government’s effort to boost trade links with India, a report from Financial Times has revealed.
Also, Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the proposal was anathema to the spirit of agreements between the two countries aimed at boosting trade and investment.
“Frankly we are baffled by the whole thing. This is a very blunt instrument. It sends all the wrong signals about Britain’s openness for trade and tourism,” she told the Financial Times, saying she was sure every country targeted had the “principals of reciprocity” in mind.
Mrs Okonjo-Iweala said richer Nigerians would be able to factor in the cost of the bond, while the measures would hit tourists and other Nigerians who would simply go elsewhere. “Britain loses but would not gain,” she said.
She said: “We should have a blanket policy on what we should do when this policy comes on board. It is discriminatory.”
The prime minister’s allies said Mr. Cameron had “not signed off” details of the policy while Liberal Democrats and Tory business ministers warned that the idea would be damaging to Britain’s economic interests.
According to Financial Times, Mr. Cameron had told Theresa May, home secretary that he would not sanction any policy that undermines his growth agenda or the “open for business” message he delivered on a recent trip to India.
“The prime minister has not cleared this policy,” said one ally. “He doesn’t want to do anything that cuts across the message he took to India.”
Although Downing Street said pilot studies involving the use of migrant bonds – or deposits – for some visitors would go ahead, neither Mr. Cameron nor Nick Clegg, his deputy, have agreed the scope of the scheme or the size of the bonds.
Cameron is especially keen that the pilot study targets “high risk” individuals and is not seen as being aimed at any particular country.
Ms May wanted the trial of a £3,000 bond to begin in November, levied on short-term visitors from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Ghana.
Vince Cable, Lib Dem business secretary, has expressed concerns about the proposal and his anxiety is shared by David Willetts, Tory science minister. Mr Cable raised the issue in cabinet on Tuesday, saying he was concerned the home office was misrepresenting the pilots as a way of bringing down net migration.
The Home Office said on Tuesday the November pilot would be “highly selective”, focusing only on those visitors from India and other countries thought to present a “residual risk” of overstaying. “Any pilot will not apply to all visitors from the selected countries and the vast majority of visitors will not need to pay a bond,” a spokeswoman said.
However, tour operators were dismayed at the introduction of any type of deposit system and complained they had not been consulted.
And yesterday, the House of Representatives urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to resist the British Government’s proposed £3,000 bond on Nigerians travelling to the United Kingdom.
This is with a view to protecting the interest of Nigerians in case the policy is implemented.
Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Nnenna Ukeje, spoke yesterday at a meeting with the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mr. Martin Uhomoibhi, in Abuja.
Ukeje said the policy was discriminatory and should be resisted by the Federal Government.
But Uhomoibhi told the lawmakers that the policy was only being muted by the British Government, adding that it had not been finalised.
He said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Olugbenga Ashiru, had met with the British High Commissioner to Nigeria over the matter, pointing out that efforts were being made to handle it diplomatically.
He said: “When the minister met with the High Commissioner, he confirmed that the policy was still being considered, but regretted that it was leaked to the media.
“He assured that even when it comes on stream, only Nigerian first time visitors to UK will be affected.
“The high commissioner also confirmed that the government has not yet agreed on what should be the bond.
“It was agreed that Nigeria will surely be among the countries that will be affected.”
Quoting the high commissioner, the permanent secretary explained that the British Government muted the idea to reduce the number of immigrants from nations it classified as “high risk” countries.
According to Uhomoibhi, the minister told the high commissioner that the policy would attract some repercussions and stressed the need for Britain to have a rethink.
Already, the Nigerian Senate has kicked against the proposal calling on the Federal Government.
Meanwhile, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Director- General, Mr. Muda Yusuf, yesterday said the proposed £3,000 bond on Nigerians visiting the UK would affect business relations between both countries.
Yusuf told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the proposal was undesirable and detrimental to existing business relations between Nigeria and the UK.
He said that the frequency of travels by Nigerians to UK would be affected, adding that airlines plying the London routes would experience a decline in patronage.
Yusuf said that Nigerians would be compelled to seek alternative destinations for business and vacation in countries with more liberal visa policies.
The director general, however, said that the policy might constrain Nigerians to begin to look inwards.
“This will certainly be good for the local hospitality industry and also save the economy some foreign exchange,” he said.
More than 180,000 Nigerians apply for UK visas every year and about 70 per cent of applications are successful, the British High Commission in Abuja said.
According to UK Trade and Investment, Nigeria is the UK’s second largest market for goods in Africa, and the 33rd largest overseas market. Exports of goods and services to Nigeria were worth about £2.5bn ($3.84bn) in 2009, the latest year for which figures are available. Exports from Nigeria to the UK totalled $9.2bn last year, most of it oil, according to the National Bureau of Statistics in Nigeria.
Mary Rance, chief executive of trade body UKinbound, said: “It would be a very incongruous step to take at this time, when we are in open dialogue about trying to improve the process [for visitors]. It should be easier rather than [more] difficult for visitors.”
The proposals have been badly received in India’s business community, with executives used to travelling freely to London echoing the vociferous complaints of the nation’s leading trade bodies.
The move led to demands on Tuesday for a tit-for-tat response from India’s government, including an article on FirstPost, a widely read news site, headlined “Why India must retaliate against UK £3,000 visa bond” and editorials in leading newspapers calling for a rethink.
The Confederation of Indian Industry was one of the first organisations to hit out, saying the bond was “highly discriminatory and very unfortunate”.
“The suggested changes are not only discriminatory they are also against the ‘special relationship’ publicised by the UK government,” a CII spokesperson said. “We share UK’s concern on illegal immigration but surely there are other more effective and non-discriminatory ways to put a check on it.”
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