By Milton Tella – In another move to consolidate on the good start of his administration, the new High Commissioner at the Nigeria High Commission London, His Excellency, Ambassador Sarafa Isola met with representatives of his compatriots in the UK on Friday 18thJune 2021.
There’s no better way to serve the community than to have regular engagement. It is clever of the Nigeria High Commission to rub minds with the newly elected members of the Central Association of Nigerians in the UK (CANUK).
The newly elected members of the Central Association of Nigerians in the United Kingdom (CANUK), paid a courtesy call on the Nigeria High Commissioner to the UK, to introduce the newly elected executive members of CANUK.
Ambassador Isola, who was accompanied by the diplomatic Heads of Section and the Head of Chancery of the Mission, congratulated the new CANUK executives that were recently elected.
The CANUK executives, led by the Chairman, Ayo Akinfe, used the opportunity of the meeting to raise several issues of concern to the Nigerian community in the UK with the High Commissioner and the Heads of Section.
The Nigeria High Commission formed the Central Association of Nigerians in the UK (CANUK), during the administration of His Excellency, Dr. Christopher Kolade CON, to unite the various unions and associations under one umbrella organisation.
There are various issues ranging from, welfare, immigration, deportation, prisoner transfer and student related matters affecting Nigerians in the UK and CANUK is expected to serve as the eyes and ears of the Nigeria High Commission in the UK on such matters. It is noteworthy that, the new High Commissioner, His Excellency, Ambassador Isola has pledged his readiness to embark on a robust engagement with Nigerians in the UK in order to serve his country men better.
However, it is the immigration and Consular Services of the Mission that is mostly impacting on Nigerians in the UK especially in this era of Covid-19.
Mr. Nuradeen Aliyu – Biu, the Minister/Head of Information said, “The attention of the entire Mission is focussed on innovative ways to improve and deliver on better services with compassion, especially, at a time like this.”
Immigration Service website
African Voice raised the concern on the difficulties many passport applicants are still facing with passport applications online.
Many said, they would appreciate if the immigration website for the online application is updated to be more user-friendly.
Some applicants’ complain that they simply can’t progress with the payment process at some point during the application process and messages such as ‘contact the embassy’ do come up in some cases.
Mr. Kibiya Bello, the immigration attaché said, “applicants should patiently and carefully go through the instructions and directions while filling out the required details online.”
He said, “if during the application process, applicants do not have access to a printer, the option to continue/proceed to payment is available. Such applicants can then print out proof of payment at a later stage.”
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