Britain is planning to ask visitors from Nigeria and five other countries whose nationals are deemed to pose a “high risk” of immigration abuse to provide a 3,000 pounds (about N750,000) bond before they can enter the country.
Home Secretary Theresa May said the David Cameron administration is serious about cutting immigration and abuses of the system.
The Sunday Times said from November, a pilot scheme would target visitors from Nigeria, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Pakistan and India.
Visitors aged 18 and over would be forced to hand over £3,000 ($4,600, 3,500 euros) from November for a six-month visit visa.
They will forfeit the money if they overstay in Britain after their visa has expired.
The Federal Government last night said although it had not received any communication to that effect, such a policy, if implemented, would be discriminatory.
Foreign Affairs Minister Olugbenga Ashiru said: “We have not received any communication from the British Government on this policy. I cannot comment on it now.
“When we are communicated, we will react appropriately. I don’t believe so. That policy will be highly discriminatory. “
Initially, the scheme will target hundreds of visitors, but the plan is to extend it to several thousands, according to the broadsheet’s front-page report.
The populist United Kingdom Independence Party has been encroaching on the Conservatives’ traditional core vote in recent months.
Cameron wants annual net migration down below 100,000 by 2015.
“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,” May was quoted as saying.
“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.”
A Home Office official said the six countries highlighted were those with “the most significant risk of abuse”.
Critics have warned that the move could backfire, with other governments retaliating and asking British visitors to pay bonds before they are allowed into their countries.
They also say it would be impractical because it would require a new bureaucracy to enforce it.
Twenty-six Nigerian convicts are on death row in China and Indonesia and may be executed soon.
Deputy Chief of Mission in the Nigerian Embassy in China, Ambassador Patrick Olusola Onadipe, told reporters in Beijing that 366 Nigerians are in Chinese jails, mostly for drug trafficking.
Of the 366 in jail in China alone, Onadipe said 120 of them are awaiting trial.
The envoy said four of those sentenced to death are in China while the remaining 22 are in Indonesia.
According to him, those on death row were convicted mostly for drug trafficking.
Onadipe said: “It is those who are bringing drugs that are really in the majority, and the trend is worrisome.
“We have four Nigerians on death row in China. In Indonesia, there are 22 on death row. So, it is really a trend that needs to be looked into.”
Onadipe said the embassy is coping with traffic from Nigeria to China.
He added: “But I hope we will not be overwhelmed because a lot of Nigerians coming here have no business here, if I have to be very frank. This is because when they come they are misinformed.
“A lot of them probably think they will get jobs here. But when they get here, there is no job. So, they don’t want to return home.
“Unofficial population of Nigerians in China is about 25,000 and 90 per cent of this is in Gwang Dong Province.
“We don’t have the accurate figure. But there are over 12,000 Nigerians in Gwang Dong Province alone. What are they doing there?
“Less than 10 per cent of them have visible means of income; others don’t. So, they resort to anti-social activities, like pushing drugs, doing 419, yahoo-yahoo, Internet fraud, armed robbery, rape and even murder.”
On what Nigeria can gain from the growth and development in China, Onadipe said: “Agriculture. This is because it would provide jobs for Nigerians…”.
The Nation
