Headline

New UK Visa Policy Aimed At Managing Students’ Social Services – Envoy

Published

2 years ago

June 25, 2023

Editor

British High Commissioner to Nigeria says the UK government’s new policy on the restriction of foreign student visas is aimed at managing the pressure on social services for scholars.

Montgomery, who said this during an interview with Newsmen in Abuja, explained that the policy was not targeted aimed at discouraging Nigerian students studying in the UK.

According to him, at the moment in the UK, Nigerians desiring to study in the UK have 97 per cent visa approval rate.

He urged Nigerians to see the new visa regime in the UK in a bigger context, a thing which he said is “really a positive for Nigeria and the United Kingdom”.

“Three years ago, there were 20,000 Nigerian students in British higher education institutions, and last year, the number increased to 127,000.

“So, we had a five-fold increase in the number of students from Nigeria coming to UK universities.

“We are delighted that UK universities continue to attract the best and brightest from Nigeria.

“And in the wider context, last year, the UK granted three million new UK visas of various types including students and other visitors.

“Nigerians alone received 325,000 of those 3 million visas.

“So more than 10 per cent of the visas from the UK are to Nigerian citizens which is fantastic.

“It goes back to the fact that the UK and Nigeria have strong people-to-people links.

“The policy change is about people who are doing non-research degrees coming to the UK as undergraduates, or for a one-year master’s degree programme, and who decide to bring their dependents.

“We have had a very significant rise in the number of people coming from all around the world, not just from Nigeria.

“This has caused some strain on the UK.

“Sometimes it is difficult to find good accommodation as a student and there is real pressure on housing and social services for students.

“If you looked at it three years ago, only 1,500 dependants of students were coming to the UK from Nigeria, but now it was 52,000 last year.

“I am just trying to put it in proper context, that this is an adjustment.

“The words that are being used in the media to describe the situation are misrepresenting. We are making an adjustment that enables us to manage the demands on services in university towns and elsewhere.

“Nigerians are very successful in acquiring visas. We have a 97 per cent approval rate and so that is the big context,” Montgomery said.

He expressed the UK’s pride in its research institutes and higher education which, he said, were listed among the top hundred universities in the world.

The higher institutions, he said, are very open to students going to study in the UK.

He expressed the belief that Nigerians stand to gain massively from the international exposure and international networks offered by studying in the UK.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the UK Home Office in May announced that from Jan. 2024, undergraduate and master’s students would no longer be allowed to take their dependents along with them to the UK.

The restriction does not apply to students in research programmes.

Headline

Peru Anti-government Protesters Clash With Police

Published

8 hours ago

September 21, 2025

Editor

Hundreds of anti-government protesters clashed with police in the Peruvian capital Lima on Saturday, throwing stones and sticks as officers fired tear gas on the demonstrators, AFP journalists reported.

The protest, organized by a youth collective called “Generation Z”, is part of growing social unrest in Peru against organized crime, corruption in public office, and a recent pension reform.

“Today, there is less democracy than before. It’s getting worse… because of fear, because of extortion,” said 54-year-old protester Gladys, who declined to give her last name.

Around 500 people gathered in the city center, under heavy police presence.

“Congress has no credibility, it doesn’t even have the approval of the people… It is wreaking havoc in this country,” said protester Celene Amasifuen.

The clashes broke out as demonstrators tried to approach executive and congressional buildings in Lima.

The radio station Exitosa said that its reporter and a cameraman were hit by pellets, commonly fired by law enforcement.

Police said at least three officers were wounded.

Approval ratings for President Dina Boluarte, whose term ends next year, have plummeted amid rising extortion and organized crime cases.

Several opinion polls show the government and conservative-majority Congress are seen by many as corrupt institutions.

This week, the legislature passed a law requiring young adults to join a private pension fund, despite many facing a precarious working environment.

AFP

Headline

Fresh World Trouble Looms As Netanyahu Tells Western Leaders ‘There Will Be No Palestinian State’

Published

8 hours ago

September 21, 2025

Editor

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said there would be no Palestinian state, in a message addressed to the leaders of Britain, Australia and Canada after they recognised Palestinian statehood.

“I have a clear message for those leaders who recognise a Palestinian state after the horrific massacre on October 7: you are granting a huge reward to terror,” he said.

“And I have another message for you: it will not happen. No Palestinian state will be established west of the Jordan River.”

Britain, Australia and Canada on Sunday became the first tripartite Western nations to recognise a Palestinian state.

Britain and Canada became the first G7 countries to take the step, with France and other nations expected to follow at the annual UN General Assembly, which opens Monday in New York.

“Today, to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis, and a two-state solution, the United Kingdom formally recognises the State of Palestine,” UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a message on X.

“Canada recognises the State of Palestine and offers our partnership in building the promise of a peaceful future for both the State of Palestine and the State of Israel,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney wrote on X.

This comes after decades of requests for sovereignty from the Palestinian side.

Portugal was also to recognise Palestinian statehood later Sunday, as Israel came under huge international pressure over the war in Gaza triggered almost two years ago by the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.

Headline

Badenoch Slams UK’s Palestine Recognition Decision As ‘Absolutely Disastrous’

Published

9 hours ago

September 21, 2025

Editor

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch condemned the Prime Minister Keir Starmer-led United Kingdom’s decision to formally recognise the State of Palestine.

PUNCH Online reports that Britain, alongside Australia and Canada, on Sunday recognised a Palestinian state in a seismic shift in decades of Western foreign policy.

Britain and Canada became the first G7 countries to take the step, with France and other nations expected to follow at the annual UN General Assembly, which opens Monday in New York.

However, the decision triggered swift Israeli anger and condemnation from the opposition.

Reacting in a statement on her X on Sunday, Badenoch described the move as “absolutely disastrous.”

She argued the move rewards terrorism with no conditions, and the decision would be widely regretted.

She said, “Absolutely disastrous. We will all rue the day this decision was made. Rewarding terrorism with no conditions whatsoever put in place for Hamas.

“It leaves hostages languishing in Gaza and does nothing to stop the suffering of innocent people caught in this war.”

The Winchester opposition leader accused Labour of pandering to its “hard left” rather than fixing Britain’s pressing domestic problems.

“It is because Labour cannot fix the big problems in our society that they focus on discredited student union campaigns to appease the hard left.”

Listing examples of Labour’s failings, she said, “They cannot fix the NHS, so they push assisted suicide. – They cannot create jobs for young people, so they give them votes at 16.

“They cannot sort out immigration, but they will recognise Palestine instead. And so on. This is the same man who paid £35bn of reparations to Mauritius along with the surrender of the Chagos islands.”

Badenoch also criticised what she described as the prime minister’s lack of judgment.

“Everything we are seeing is a consequence of a Prime Minister who has no plan for the country and no judgment.

“He will spend the next four years delivering the hobbyhorses of the Labour left to stay in power and leave a HUGE mess for us to clean up.”

Earlier, Starmer announced the recognition of Palestine in a post on X, saying the move was intended to provide a two-state solution.

He said, “Today, to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis, and a two-state solution, the United Kingdom formally recognises the State of Palestine.”