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Queen Elizabeth II was all business in the days leading up to her death.
In fact, the late monarch—who died in 2022 at age 96—didn’t mince words and got straight to the point in her final diary entry, according to royal biographer Robert Hardman, who discovered the journal while researching about her heir King Charles III.
“It transpires that she was still writing it at Balmoral two days before her death,” Hardman wrote of Queen Elizabeth in his updated biography Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story., per The Telegraph. “Her last entry was as factual and practical as ever.”
True to her habit of recording the day’s big events, rather than jotting down her personal thoughts and feelings, Queen Elizabeth wrote: “‘Edward came to see me,'” according to Hardman, referring to Her Royal Majesty’s private secretary Sir Edward Young.
Young was likely helping Queen Elizabeth make arrangements to swear in the then-newly elected U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss‘ council members, per Hardman.
ORGANISERS of the annual Lagos International Trade Fair (LITF), the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), have said over 1 million visitors are expected at this year’s edition of the fair. This, they said, would represent a big leap from the average of 350,000, usually recorded during the ten-day period, in the past.
The Chairman Trade Promotion Board, LCCI, Prince Abimbola Olashore, disclosed this at a media briefing organised by LCCI, in Lagos, recently.
Olashore, who was represented by the Chamber’s Vice President, Otunba Akinbo Akin-Olugbade also stated that, just like last year, the gates to the fair would be flung open, this year, to allow as many visitors as possible to leverage the opportunities of discounted prices, and networking, the fair usually provided.
Besides encouraging more participation, he expressed the belief that the free entry policy would also go a long way in encouraging those who had always stayed away in the past, due to the fee they and their family members would have to pay at the gate before entry.
“We believe making the entry free for all has become imperative at these trying economic times, so as to provide the opportunity for many who may want to do their Christmas shopping at the fair,” he stated.
Olashore expressed delight that this year’s edition of the event would surpass the average record of 350,000 visitors, 3,500 exhibitors, and 15 countries participating annually, as evidenced in the expression of interests from stakeholders.
He added that the fair, tagged ‘Connecting Businesses, Creating Value’, scheduled to hold between November 1 to 10, in Lagos, this year, is expected to be declared open by President Bola Tinubu.
Some of the highlights of the forthcoming event, he stated, are the different specialized exhibitions and events, which would be holding simultaneously during the 10- day period.
In his remarks, Head, SME, UBA, one of the sponsors of this year’s edition of the fair, Ajayi Babatunde, expressed the bank’s delight at the partnership, which he described as very productive in the past six years.
“The partnership provides our customers the opportunity to interact with us and our products, while also giving us the opportunity to showcase some of these products of ours to such customers,” he stated.
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No fewer than 1,425 international students who gained admission to universities in the United Kingdom were denied entry at the country’s airports between 2021 and 2023.
A total of 161 Nigerians were affected, as they were removed on arrival at airports across the UK.
According to data exclusively obtained from the UK Home Office through the Freedom of Information Act, India topped the list of affected foreign students with 644, representing 45 per cent of the figure, while Nigeria followed with 11.3 per cent. Ghana is third on the list with 92 (6.46 per cent), while Bangladesh is fourth with 90 (6.32 per cent).
However, the released data, covering October 2021 to October 2023, is limited to students denied entry at the airports. It does not include international students deported by the Home Office for violating the terms of their visas, such as working beyond 20 hours weekly and academic malpractice.
The Home Office did not also specify the reasons for the removal of the foreign students.
But Saturday PUNCH gathered that some of the reasons for such decisions included the inability of students to convince the Border Force officers during checks at the airports, presentation of forged documents, and deficiency in English language usage.
An immigration lawyer based in North London, UK, Dele Olawanle, in a post on X in September 2023, decried the maltreatment of students and called on the UK Government to rein in Border Force officers, whom he said had turned themselves to admission officers.
Olawanle lamented that three students contacted him for help within three hours after facing threats of removal at the airports.
He wrote, “UK border officers have turned themselves into university officials at the point of entry by questioning students entering the UK to start their course on some aspects of the course they are going to start. If they do not answer correctly, they have their visas cancelled, and some are removed from the UK. Sad! I have had three instructions on that in the last 24 hours.
“It is not their job because most of these students were interviewed by the university before being offered a place on the course. Most of these Border Force officers have not even been to university and are not qualified to examine these foreign students on their academic knowledge.
“I can say this as I have had dealings with them for the last 24 years. Their job is to make sure the students obtain entry clearance genuinely. If you are a student coming to start your course, be prepared for immigration officers turning themselves into university examiners.”
A data analyst, Nelly Okechukwu, who claimed he narrowly escaped screening at one of the airports, also shared his experience.
He wrote, “After going through a 16-hour flight, a border officer asked for my transcript, which I presented, and this lady started asking me to tell her about a course I studied in my 200-level in the university. A university I graduated from since 2012.”
Student admissions
A total of 679,970 foreign students were admitted to UK universities for the 2021/2022 academic year, according to data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
Nigeria had the highest number of foreign students with 44,195 out of the 68,320 African citizens studying in the UK for the 2021/2022 academic year.
HESA data also shows that the number of students from Nigeria rose to 72,355 in the 2022/2023 academic year, with the explanation that the data relates to students enrolled between 1 August 2022 and 31 July 2023.
Nigerian students and their dependents in the UK contributed an estimated £1.9bn to the economy of the country in one year, according to an analysis by SBM Intelligence. The data covered the 2021/2022 academic session.
According to the data, international students contributed £41.9bn to the UK economy in the 2021/22 academic year.
The Universities UK International, which is the umbrella body for universities in the country, said it couldn’t comment on the data of student removals.
The organisation, in response to Saturday PUNCH inquiries, however, noted that immigrants on student visas who were removed at the border were far less than those admitted.
“We are not a government agency or sponsor. So, we don’t hold data on this and therefore can’t comment, but we are sharing the points below on background for context:
“Home Office data from 2021-2024 (year ending March) suggests 1,541,837 study visas were granted to main applicants over the period. Assuming the quoted numbers are correct, then those not admitted to the UK would represent less than 0.01% of all those on study visas. We cannot comment on the reasons for refusal or what happens after that – and it will depend on the specifics of the case.”
The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission said it did not get any report from students who were removed at UK airports.
A spokesperson for the commission, Abdulrahman Balogun, said, “No student has ever reported being rejected at the port of entry for no just cause.”
The Director of a foreign education consulting firm, Story Across Globe, Mr Emmanuel Gbadega, said a foreign student or any other immigrant might be rejected at the port of entry if the individual couldn’t explain his or her mission in the country.
Gbadega said anybody who looked suspicious could be rejected and returned to their country by the Border Force.
He said, “They have been doing that for many years. You can be rejected by the Border Force when you look suspicious; probably they find out that you are not coming to study. The students could have been rejected as a result of incompetence; they could have failed an interview.”
Gbadega explained that any foreign student who was removed at the port of entry could seek a refund from his university by notifying the institution of their challenge.
Commenting on the matter, an immigration lawyer, Adeola Oyinlade, tasked Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NIDCOM to be concerned on the removal of Nigerian students at foreign airports.
He also enjoined any student who was denied entry to a foreign country to abide by that decision to avoid being banned for 10 years.
Another immigration lawyer, Dr Yemi Opemuti, said the Border Force did not commit any infraction by removing the affected students, adding that the officers reserved the right to approve or disapprove entry into their country.
According to Opemuti, having a visa does not guarantee entry into a country, adding that customs or immigration officers have the power to invalidate a visa at the port of entry.
“When you are issued a visa from your country of origin, it’s conditional and subject to the approval of customs or immigration agents in your country of destination. A visa can be cancelled based on the response of the migrant to an interview at the entry point.
“They have the right to deny you entry or deport you if you cannot give them convincing answers to their queries,” he added.
The UK Home Affairs and British High Commission in Nigeria did not respond to inquiries made via email sent by our correspondent on August 14.
There has been a sharp decline in the number of Nigerians going to the UK to study as a result of the ban on dependents of student visa, a policy that came into effect in January 2024.
Also, the devaluation of the naira, which resulted in an increased exchange rate, weakened the financial strength of many Nigerians to sponsor themselves or their children to the UK for study.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced the cancellation of the aptitude test for 2024 Direct Entry candidates.
In a statement released on its official X account on Monday, JAMB revealed that alternative criteria would be used for Direct Entry admissions.
The statement read, “Attention 2024 DE Candidates! This is to inform you that the Board has shelved the conduct of the aptitude test for the year. Other placement criteria shall be considered for your admission while adequate preparation goes into the exercise ahead of next year.”
JAMB assured that all necessary processes had been established for the commencement of admissions into the nation’s tertiary institutions.
Additionally, JAMB announced that the 2024 edition of the annual policy meeting will take place on Thursday, July 18, in Abuja.
Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, will chair the meeting, which will officially authorise the start of this year’s admission cycle.
A bulletin published on X highlighted, “This year’s exercise will also feature the National Tertiary Admissions’ Performance-Merit Award, NATAP-M Awards, where the overall winner will receive N500 million, and other consolation winners will share N250 million collectively.”
The policy meeting, a significant event in the academic calendar, is attended by vice-chancellors of universities, rectors of polytechnics, monotechnics, innovation enterprise institutes, provosts of colleges of education, and other key stakeholders.
During the meeting, guidelines for the 2024 admission exercise will be reviewed and approved.
The meeting will also review the performance of the 2023 admissions exercise and the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) results.
“The minimum admission scores, an aggregation of individual institutions’ submissions, will be approved at the meeting,” the bulletin stated, adding,”This is not a cut-off mark, as often misconstrued, but a minimum score that no institution should go below.”
The outcomes of the policy meeting, chaired by the Minister of Education, set the standards for admissions and represent a collective decision rather than solely that of JAMB.
“No institution is expected to commence the admission process until after the policy meeting, as the guidelines regulating the year’s admission exercise are determined at the meeting with the endorsement of the Minister of Education,” the statement emphasised.
JAMB added that institutions that fail to adhere to these collectively agreed norms will face sanctions, reinforcing the importance of the policy meeting in maintaining the integrity and orderliness of the admission process.
China’s National Immigration Administration (NIA) said on Monday that the country’s 144-hour visa-free transit policy has been expanded to three more entry ports.
According to NIA, the development brings the number of ports covered by the policy to 37.
The Administration said in a statement that the three new ports include Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport in Central China’s Henan Province, Lijiang Sanyi International Airport in Southwest China’s Yunnan Province, and the Mohan Railway Port in Yunnan.
“Starting from Monday, eligible foreign nationals can enter China through Zhengzhou aviation port visa-free, with their stay limited within Henan Province.
“Additionally, people entering Yunnan visa-free are allowed to stay in more areas of the province.
“Previously, they could only stay in the provincial capital Kunming whereas now, they can visit nine city or prefecture-level areas including Kunming, Lijiang, Dali and Xishuangbanna.
“The two provinces both boast rich tourist resources.
“Henan, where many ancient dynasties had established their capitals is home to sites of great historical interest including the Shaolin Temple and the Longmen Grottoes.
“Yunnan boasts multiple UNESCO World Heritage sites, such as the Old Town of Lijiang and the Hani rice terraces. It is also home to more than 20 ethnic groups,’’ the NIA said.
According to the NIA, at present, foreign nationals from 54 countries such as the U.S., Canada, and Britain are eligible for the 144-hour visa-free policy for the purpose of short-term activities such as travel and business visits.
It said the expansion of the visa-free policy was expected to provide more choices for foreign nationals travelling and doing business in China.
The NIA said the 72/144-hour visa-free transit policy had played an important role in the country’s high-level opening-up, facilitating the exchange of people between China and other countries and promoting exchanges and cooperation.
It assured that it would continue to improve and optimise the policy and welcome foreign visitors with a more open mind.
The NIA said earlier this month that China had recorded 14.64 million inbound trips made by foreigners in the first half of 2024, up by152.7 per cent year-on-year.
According to the NIA, among them, 8.54 million entered China visa-free, accounting for 52 per cent of the inbound trips and representing a year-on-year surge of 190.one per cent.
“In addition to the expanded visa-free policies, China has also inagurated a series of other measures to facilitate the entry of foreign nationals and their stay in China.
“This includes relaxed visa application requirements and simplified procedures, exemption of border checks for certain transit passengers and more convenient mobile payment services for foreigners,’’ the statement said.
The statement said that the NIA expects the number of foreigners visiting China to continue to rise in the second half of the year.
It also said that as measures being put in place to make visits to China increasingly easier, the country had become a popular destination for overseas tourists, with more people posting their travel experiences in China on social media.
“China Travel” has become a top trending search term on multiple global social media platforms.
“China will continue to embrace the world with open arms, inject new dynamism into the world through its development, and create more energy and enthusiasm for people-to-people exchanges,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said.
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