JULY 10, 2024

By Olugbenga Ige

Ethiopian Airlines has announced that the Nigerian government is no longer interested in partnering in establishing the proposed Nigeria Air project.

The Airlines’ Group Chief Executive Officer, Mesfin Tasew, made this known over the weekend in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, according to Ethiopian Tribune, a major Ethiopian media outlet.

“The Nigerian government has lost interest in partnering with a foreign airline,” Tasew was quoted as saying.

This announcement by Ethiopian Airlines comes barely two months after the Federal Government indefinitely suspended the Nigeria Air project.

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, had on May 27, announced the indefinite suspension of the Nigeria Air project during the ministerial briefing marking the first year of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

Keyamo had previously criticized the deal with Ethiopian Airlines, saying that the ownership structure of the suspended airline is not beneficial to the country.

The minister added that it would be irresponsible for the Federal Government to allow a foreign entity to monopolize Nigeria’s aviation industry, thereby compromising the growth of local businesses.

In 2023, the Ministry of Aviation, under former Minister Hadi Sirika, unveiled Nigeria Air three days before the end of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

The development had elicited concerns among stakeholders nationwide over the ownership arrangement which gave Ethiopian Airlines a 49 per cent equity stake.

The Federal Government had a 5 per cent equity, while a consortium of three Nigerian investors had 46 per cent.

Reacting to the deal in June 2023, the House of Representatives asked the Federal Government to suspend the operations of Nigeria Air, describing it as a fraud.

JULY 12, 2024

Foreigners who visit Nigeria have misconception about the country because of the nefarious activities of security operatives who engage in extortion or solicit for money from passengers at the airports. This act has fundamentally damaged the image of Nigeria in international circles, writes Chinedu Eze

The video has gone viral of a Swiss Nigerian woman popularly known as Nwanyiocha who narrated her experience travelling from the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

In the video, Nwanyiocha narrated how her passport was checked 10 times by security operatives at Enugu airport who solicited for money from her. According to her, the security operatives become unnecessarily strict each time passengers refuse to give them money.

She compared her Nigerian experience to what she witnessed in Ethiopia. She said that on arrival she was respectively and professionally attended to and the same professionalism was exhibited when she left back to Nigeria. She said that her passport was checked only two times, compared to over 10 times her passport was checked at the Enugu airport.

While comparing the way she was treated at Enugu airport to the way she was treated at Bole Airport, Addis Ababa, she described the both scenarios as night and day.

“In Enugu I had to show my papers at least 10 times before I was allowed to sit somewhere. In Addis, I showed my passport twice and that was it. In Addis Ababa, nobody asked me to do Sunday for them or Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday or buy them water or anything. They take your documents with thanks and show you where next you will go.

“In Nigeria before you are allowed to sit down you are already exhausted. You feel intimidated. Whatever they are going to ask you, you have to be polite, you have to keep quiet. It is very stressful,” she narrated.

She said that if Nigeria wants to promote tourism, if the country wants to bring in investors, “entry and exit should not be a big deal. It should be made as comfortable as possible. People will tell their friends that travelling to Nigeria is easy. But with this experience, it is not a good thing. The Immigration, the airport is what you see first on arrival. It is not good experience. And it is not an African thing because in Ethiopia people are polite, they help you; they don’t beg you for money and they don’t waste your time. And if their argument is that they are not paid very well, government should own up. You cannot have airport staff being beggars, asking people for money; when they are just there to work and provide a service. There is difference between being polite and wasting somebody’s time.”

Taskforce against Touts

Nwanyiocha’s video coincided with a statement issued by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) on plans to eradicate touts and also to monitor airport workers who solicit or extort passengers. 

The Managing Director of FAAN, Mrs. Olubunmi Kuku, announced that the agency has taken a decisive step towards eliminating touting, extortion, and illicit activities at the airports by establishing a dedicated task force to monitor activities at the airports managed by the agency. 

Reacting to reports of illicit activities going on at various airports, Kuku expressed her deep concern over the ongoing harassment and extortion of passengers at the airports, emphasising her commitment to creating a seamless and pleasant experience for travelers and as a result, her administration has launched an extensive campaign to crack down on these illegal activities. 

Kuku warned all airport personnel, including FAAN staff to desist from such nefarious activities, threatening that anyone who negated the regulations would face strict disciplinary actions.

 She stressed that the era of business as usual was over and highlighted the administration’s zero-tolerance policy towards misconduct.

Furthermore, Mrs. Kuku announced plans to establish magistrate courts at international airports to expedite the legal process for prosecuting offenders. The task force has been mandated to enforce discipline among airport staff and maintain a culture of professionalism at all levels. 

In addition, she said dedicated phone lines and QR codes would be set up to provide passengers with a means of providing feedback on their airport experience. Furthermore, Mrs. Kuku emphasized that all airport personnel must prominently display their on-duty cards and name tags for easy identification and accountability.

Old Tradition

It was learnt that Nigerian airports, especially the major gateway, Lagos, has become notorious because of the illicit activities of security operatives, which include Aviation Security (AVSEC) of FAAN, the Nigeria Immigration Service, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the Quarantine service, Nigerian Customs and others. There are also Port Health officials who engage in their own racket, including the cleaners who are used as outlets by Port Health to illegally sell yellow card to passengers.

Harassing passengers, intimidating them in order to extort them and engaging in physical search of luggage at the entrance of the terminal are part of ways the passenger is ripped off. Inexperienced passengers are intimidated with phony allegations and stopped from travelling until they pay money and they usually insist on dollars, THISDAY has learnt.

There have been efforts made at various times to eradicate extortion but it failed because, according to insider sources, security operatives bribe their seniors to post them to the airport, which is literally a gold mine. FAAN is also in a quandary because it has no power to control the security agencies like Customs, Immigration, NDLEA, Quarantine; informed source told THISDAY.

About two years ago the then Managing Director of FAAN, Capt. Rabiu Yadudu announced new measures and regulations geared towards reducing extortion of travellers by officials to its barest minimum at Nigerian airports.

Yadudu said such regulations would go a long way in improving security and the integrity of the country’s airports, as well as Nigeria’s reliability in the comity of nations. He said the first impression about a country is made at the airport and Nigeria must put her better foot forward in this regard. 

He reiterated that regular flyers and airport visitors to Nigeria had not so palatable tales about the disgraceful conduct of officials and workers at the airports in terms of extortion. Regrettably, it has also been observed that some security operatives in and out of uniform were part of the scourge. 

FAAN management then was responding to an outcry over the illegal and disgraceful conducts of some of these airport officials who usually throw caution in the air while making travellers part with their hard earned monies, under various guises.

The decision of Yadudu was prompted by the reaction of an American lady, Alina Oliver who took to the Internet to describe her experience with airport officials at the Muritala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos. She detailed how officials at the MMIA, Ikeja “Traumatised and made her cry” over her COVID 19 tests requirements. She also said some unprintable things in the three episodes posts.

Physical Interface

In one of the quarterly meetings of Aviation Round Table (ART), in 2022, the think-tank body issued a communique lamenting that passengers were being exploited and suggested a multi-layered security system, which does not necessarily mean physical structure but technologically driven security coverage that would minimise physical interface between passengers and security operatives

ART also stated that there was an urgent need for provision of more funding for security at the nation’s airports to enable acquisition and deployment of state-of-the-art security equipment and that there was also the need to reduce the number of physical security checking points at the nation’s airports to enhance passenger facilitation and avoid discouragement of travel by air with unnecessary delays at the airports.

In 2017, the Federal Government Executive Order on the Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria was launched at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos by the then Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, which removed manual baggage checking counters and replaced it with one harmonized screening machine at the airport departure hall. This eased the long queues at the check-in-counters of the airlines but with time the security operatives ganged up and arranged another physical interface with passengers besides the x-ray machine at the entrance to departures.

Seasoned airport security specialists are of the view that any security system that accepts bribery or extorts money from passengers or any other airport user is compromised because the system is already eroded and rendered porous.

Experts’ Views

Many industry stakeholders have frowned on the nefarious activities of security operatives at the nation’s airports.

Chairman/CEO of Omni Blu Aviation (OBA) Limited and former Director General of Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), Akin Olateru, advised that government should seriously look into this issue and noted that even Nigerians passing through the airports are also embarrassed by the actions of some airport personnel

“I honestly wish we could do something about this. It is the same experience in all our international airports. Even we Nigerians are frustrated about it. Leaving or arriving Nigeria for Nigerians is always stressful. Immigration asking for telephone number, address, flight number, etc. on arrival for Nigerians is absolutely rubbish. Showing your travelling documents more than 10 times on departure is nonsense,” Olateru said. 

He suggested that FAAN and the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), in conjunction with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), should please organise training on ICAO ANNEXE 9 (facilitation) for all airport workers, as Nigeria is a signatory to this protocol. 

“From the time you arrive at the airport till when you sit on the plane shouldn’t be more than 30 minutes. This is what all ICAO member states signed for in Annexe 9. On arrival, from the time you step out of the plane to when you get to your car with your luggage, it shouldn’t be more than 45 minutes. The action plan is that we must audit all our processes and simplify them. This is the only way we can reduce corruption. FAAN, NCAA, NSIB and all other relevant agencies should audit all their processes and simply them,” Olateru further said.

He also observed that there is no country in the world where you have multilayered checks as it is in Nigeria, emphasizing that such multilayered process encourages corruption.

“I have been to all the countries and I have never seen all the cumbersome checks as we have in Nigeria. We definitely need to do something about this because multiple checks breed corruption. Such multiple checks are against ICAO regulation. We need to sanitize our airports,” he advised.

Minister’s Assurance

Nwanyiocha’s comment on her experience seems to be a wakeup call to once again make efforts at eradicating the menace of extortion and begging at Nigeria’s airports.

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace development, Festus Keyamo, in reponse to the viral video said: “I have received several complaints about the menace of begging and extortion at our International airports by a few unscrupulous persons who give all of us a bad image. My phones are beeping every minute with messages about this from well-meaning Nigerians. 

“Just to set the records straight, most of the agencies involved in this menace are not under the control of the Aviation Ministry, though they are stationed at our airports. However, I have been working closely with other Ministers, arms of government and agencies who are responsible for these agencies and a solution is in sight soon. We are all working under the coordination of the National Security Adviser who called a meeting a few days ago on this issue and we shall soon unveil practical steps being taken to stem this ugly tide. We thank Nigerians for their eternal vigilance on this issue.”

Hopefully, this time Nigeria will get it right. The multiple checks at the airports promote physical interface and cause delays and the shameless way some officials solicit for money from travellers remain unnerving and embarrassing.

JULY 15, 2024

BY  Chinedu Eze

Travel agencies have confirmed that many Nigerians will not embark on summer travel this year due to the current economic crunch and continuous depreciation of the naira, which in the last two weeks have been oscillating between N1, 500 to N1, 550 per dollar.

Compared to last year, travel agents who spoke to THISDAY, said that more Nigerians travelled for summer in 2023 than this year and expressed fear that unless the economy improves, international travel for holidays will continue to shrink.

The Founder and Managing Director of Travel Lab Nigeria Limited, Mrs. Shalom Asuquo, told THISDAY that people who did not take advantage of the crash of airfares in March and April this year found it difficult to pay for tickets because the fares started going up, as the naira continued to depreciate.

That was the period when Air Peace started the Lagos-London route and the International Air Travel Association (IATA) confirmed that the Federal Government had paid most of trapped fund of foreign airlines.

There was drastic drop of fares on international travel but the fares have gone up and have continued to go up.

Mrs. Asuquo said those who did not take advantage of that window have found it difficult to purchase tickets at the current rate  and some of them are even asking travel agencies to allow them to “pay small, small.”

“Those who did not make their plan to travel earlier in the year when there was drastic drop of fares when Air Peace started flight service to London, are finding it difficult to buy ticket now because the fares have gone up. Some are even asking us to allow them pay small, small. I have a group of women who are travelling to Kigali, Rwanda. The bill was about N900, 000 per person but when I wanted to book the flights, I found out that the fares have gone up. This is major disincentive to Summer travels.

“I did a package for a family at the cost of N14.6 million to Canada but when I wanted to do the booking, the fare went up again and they told me, please do something. This is the situation now. Many people are not travelling,” she said.

The Managing Director of Travel Lab Limited also disclosed that due to the high fares, travel agents try to get cheaper fares by taking other routes to the desired destination but the challenge there is that with such detour there could be visa problems.

For example, a holiday maker who wants to travel to Canada may want to go through Spain or Morocco to get cheaper fares but even on transit some countries require visa, some of them transit visa, which would take time to obtain.

“So, when you reroute there will be visa issues. These are the issues playing out. You may have a route that is cheaper, there will be visa restraint,” Asuquo said.

Also, the Chief Executive Officer of AJALA.NG Travels, Olamide Babayemi, told THISDAY that fewer number of people are demanding to travel for the Summer because of the depreciation of the naira, which has led to increase in airfares.

“Compared to last year, the number of people who have purchased ticket to travel for the summer are actually lower. Exchange rate has increased the fare for all travel service. Some are cancelling their bookings while some have not purchased tickets. Those who bought ticket by this time last year were higher,” she said.

THISDAY learnt that when the fares for international travel crashed in March and April this year, many expected that it could remain so because some were attributing the high fares to the trapped fund, which Nigeria had the highest at bout $800 million. So, after paying off the airlines; many Nigerians projected that fares would continue be at the reduced rate because, compared to other countries around Nigeria like Ghana, Togo and others, fares charged by foreign airlines are outrageously higher in Nigeria, but with further depreciation of the naira, the fares went up again.

JULY 16, 2024

The Federal Government has repatriated 190 stranded Nigerians from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

This is contained in a statement signed by Mr Bashir Garga, the National Emergency Management Agency’s (NEMA) zonal director in the North Central, on Tuesday in Abuja.

He said that the returnees were received at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Tuesday at 5:57 a.m.

He said the returnees were received by a combined team of government officials led by NEMA.

He said that the returnees were profiled and documented by the relevant agencies and sensitised to behave with decorum and responsibility on their return to Nigeria.

“The Federal Government urges all Nigerians, wherever they may be, to act as exemplary ambassadors of their country, by upholding the fundamental values of patriotism, rule of law, decency, and integrity,” the statement says. (NAN)

JULY 16, 2024

Following the lift of visa ban on Nigerian passport holders on Tuesday, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has demanded that applicants pay a sum of N640,000 as non-refundable application fees for visas.

BusinessDay’s findings show that before the visa ban, the fee was $100. With the current naira to dollar exchange rate (N1,555), in the I & E window, it cost N155,500.

Also part of the requirements to visit UAE with a Nigerian passport is that applicants must obtain a Document Verification Number, (DVN) before applying for visa.

The N640,000 fee does not guarantee a visa to UAE as issued DVN will only be valid for 14 days of issuance or once the visa application has been processed by the visa application department (whichever of these come first).

These are in accordance to the new visa issuance guidelines established by the government of the UAE.

Several Nigerians have taken to their X handle to express their displeasure on the new visa fee.

NEFERTITI with X handle @firstladyship stated, “It is obvious the UAE don’t want Nigerians. They reluctantly unbanned the Nigerian passport, but slammed a hefty N640,000 on Nigerians. “Guess what? The money is nonrefundable & has expiration date. This is see finish.”

Prince with X handle @Peco3D, state “This is just extortion in fine words. Shameless”

“This is exploitation and shameful if allowed by Nigeria government,” Lucky man with X handle @Comr_lucky1 stated.

“You think FG constant solicitation was for mere Nigerians? The constant appeal from the Nigerian government to lift travel bans to the UAE appears to primarily benefit wealthy individuals and politicians seeking a haven for their ill-gotten wealth, rather than ordinary Nigerians,” MAYOR @Enokeran2016 with X handle stated.

Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information and National Orientation on Tuesday disclosed that the UAE has lifted the Visa ban on Nigerians travelling to the country.

The Minister made the announcement in a statement issued by Rabiu Ibrahim, the Special Assistant (Media) to the Minister on Monday in Abuja.

“You are aware that Nigeria has been discussing with the United Arab Emirates on the issue of Visa for Nigerian passport holders going to the United Arab Emirates.

“Today, an agreement has been reached on that, and effective from today July 15, Nigerian passport holders are able to obtain Visa to go to the United Arab Emirates.

“I can tell you that the agreement has been reached and effective from today, Nigerian passport holders intending to travel to the UAE are able to do so,” said Idris.

The UAE had imposed a visa ban on Nigeria about two years ago due to various diplomatic disputes.

Additionally, Dubai’s Emirates Airline halted flights to Nigeria because the Central Bank of Nigeria couldn’t remit an estimated $85 million in revenue to the UAE.

In June, following several meetings with the UAE government, the Federal Government assured Nigerians that the visa ban would soon be lifted. In the same month, the Nigerian government announced that it had paid 98 per cent of $850m.

JULY 16, 2024

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says airfares rose two per cent year-over-year in June, and continued to soar above pre-pandemic levels.

Figures from the consumer price index show the increase follows a 4.5 per cent year-over-year bump in May and a fairly flat April.

Prices also stood nearly 19 per cent above what travellers paid for their plane tickets in June 2019.

The pricier fares stem partly from limited competition and flight capacity among airlines, which more than offset softening demand since the post-pandemic travel boom.

National Bank analyst Cameron Doerksen says fares have risen for most of the year — including on key domestic routes — following an 11-month stretch of year-over-year declines, mainly in 2023.

However, he says WestJet may need to lower its prices in the short term to lure back customers after a two-day mechanics strike that prompted more than 1,300 flight cancellations and upended plans for at least 170,000 travellers.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 16, 2024.

JULY 17, 2024

Trudeau government is rethinking how it gives work permits

‘Perhaps go home and bring those skills back to their country’

By Thomas Seal

(Bloomberg) -- Canada is reviewing how many long-term visas it grants to foreign students, underscoring the government’s desire to slow immigration and population growth.  

Federal and provincial officials have been discussing how to match labor market demand with international students, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said in a phone interview. Although Canada has for years used universities and colleges to bring in educated, working-age immigrants, study visas shouldn’t imply a guarantee of future residency or citizenship, he said.

“That should never be the promise. People should be coming here to educate themselves and perhaps go home and bring those skills back to their country,” he said. “That hasn’t always been the recent case.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has faced mounting pressure over the rising cost of living, intense competition for scarce housing and higher unemployment. Earlier this year, Canada imposed a new cap on the number of international student visas it issues — it’s projecting fewer than 300,000 new student permits this year, down from about 437,000 last year. 

Now officials are scrutinizing who among that pool of students should stay once they’re done with their studies. 

Canada needs to do a better job making sure jobs for international students are commensurate with the studies they’ve undertaken, Miller said. There’s a conversation about reflecting labor needs and “how we match post-graduate work permits to an increasingly contracting shortage of labor” in provinces.

“The logic for having uncapped or uncontrolled draws from abroad is no longer there.”

The number of people in Canada with those visas has grown rapidly: there were 132,000 new PGWP holders in the country in 2022, up 78% from four years earlier, according to government data. 

Changes to immigration policy will need discussion among governments and business, Miller said. Trudeau’s administration is also looking hard at how a separate program that allows companies to apply to bring in temporary foreign workers has been “used and abused,” Miller said, and he has committed to reducing the proportion of temporary residents to 5% of the population, from nearly 7%.

Foreign workers in Prince Edward Island have protested in recent weeks — with some even going on hunger strikes — after the provincial government slashed the number of permanent residency nominations for sales and service.

“Canada is now being seen as less welcoming as it has been before” for students, Miller said. But the update of that, he said, is that a study visa “is less and less being seen as a cheap way to attain permanent residency or entry into Canada, and more of a qualitative proposition — which is where we want to see it go back, to its original intent.”

However, after attending a roundtable with local media in Surrey, British Columbia, which has a large population of immigrants from South Asia, Miller said he’s also concerned by signs of racism in Canada.

“We’ve built a very important consensus around immigration in Canada, but that’s being chipped away at.”

--With assistance from Randy Thanthong-Knight.

JULY 17, 2024

By Nadine Yousif & Brandon Drenon

Canada has said it will cap the number of foreign students admitted to the country for two years in an attempt to address pressure on housing and healthcare in the country.

The cap will result in a decrease of 35% in approved study permits.

Over 800,000 foreign students were in Canada in 2022, up from 214,000 a decade earlier.

The new measures are also meant to ensure the "integrity" of the system, officials said.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced the cap on Monday, saying that Canada aims to approve around 360,000 undergraduate study permits this year.

Each province and territory will be allotted a portion of that total, determined by population and current student intake. Provinces will then decide how to distribute these permits across their universities and colleges.

The cap will only apply to students at a diploma or undergraduate programme, and will not affect students applying for study permit renewals.

As part of the change, the government will also no longer - as of September - grant work permits for students graduating from colleges that operate under a public-private partnership model, which is most commonly found in the province of Ontario.

"It's unacceptable that some private institutions have taken advantage of international students by operating under-resourced campuses, lacking supports for students and charging high tuition fees, all while significantly increasing their intake of international students," Mr Miller said.

He said the new measures are "not against individual international students" but are meant to ensure future students receive a "quality of education that they signed up for".

The announcement also comes as the Trudeau government faces growing pressure to address an increasingly unaffordable housing market.

Home prices in Canada now average C$750,000 ($550,000;£435,000) and rent for Canadians has risen 22% in the last two years.

Some economists have linked housing unaffordability to a spike in immigration, as home construction has not kept up with Canada's unprecedented population growth.

In 2022, the country grew by over a million people in the span of one year for the first time ever - a growth largely driven by newcomers. Last year Canada's population hit a record of 40 million people.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation - a national housing agency - estimates that the country needs 3.5 million more housing units by 2030 to restore affordability.

While population growth is part of the problem, experts have pointed to other pressures driving down the number of housing starts, including high interest rates that make homes less affordable.

The cost of building materials also remains elevated due to inflation and supply chain disruptions from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The cap represents a significant shift in policy for Canada, which has historically relied on open immigration to fill job vacancies and address its rapidly-aging workforce.

Mr Miller had previously hinted at reducing the number of international students admitted to Canada, drawing concern from some Canadian universities.

In response to Monday's announcement, Universities Canada, which represents post-secondary institutions across the country, said it welcomed that the cap is not affecting post-graduate students, but is concerned that it will "add stress on an already-stressed system".

The organisation also said it worries that some of the measures will deter students from coming to Canada, driving them to study elsewhere instead.

Last week, president of McMaster University in Hamilton, just outside of Toronto, said a cap would mean "a loss" for his institution.

"If we lost our international students, we would not be as rich from a learning-environment perspective," David Farrar told public broadcaster CBC in an interview., external

He added that tuition paid by international students helps offset costs for some domestic students, as universities struggle with limited government funding and budgets.

A cap on international students, he said, would mean the university will have to cut the number of domestic students it admits.

JULY 18, 2024

By Olaniyi Apanpa

The United Arab Emirates has denied approving $10k bank balance, and N640k fee requirements for Nigerians applying for visas into the country, reports The Cable.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, announced on Monday, that the UAE authorities agreed to vacate travel restrictions imposed on Nigerians.

Idris further revealed that applicants must fulfill certain conditions part of which was obtaining a document verification number on documentverificationhub.ae.

According to the website, the verification costs a non-refundable N640,000 excluding VAT for each application. This does not include the visa fee.

Additionally, applicants must provide a six-month bank statement showing a minimum balance of $10,000.

This development was condemned by air travellers who labelled the requirements as a “constructive ban,”.

However, inquiries by TheCable to the UAE’s Department of Economy and Tourism revealed that the DV hub website is not affiliated with the UAE government.

The department noted that document verification inquiries should be directed to Dubai’s General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs.

The GDRFAD meanwhile revealed that the visa application process requires a personal photo and a passport with at least six months validity. A tourist visa costs approximately 200-300 dirhams (N60,000 – 90,000), depending on the length of stay.

Applicants also need a travel ticket and valid medical insurance for the UAE.

When asked about the $10,000 bank balance requirement, GDRFAD responded, “We are not aware of such requirements. Make your visa applications through the GDRFAD.”

The spokesperson for Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Eche Abu-Obe, assured that further clarification on the matter would be sought from the ministry’s office in the Middle East.

It would be recalled that the UAE had imposed a visa ban on Nigeria barely two years ago due to various diplomatic disputes.

Additionally, Dubai’s Emirates Airline halted flights to Nigeria because the Central Bank of Nigeria couldn’t remit an estimated $85 million in revenue to the UAE.

In June, following several meetings with the UAE government, the Federal Government assured Nigerians that the visa ban would soon be lifted.

During the same month, the Nigerian government announced that it had paid 98 percent of $850 million.

JULY 18, 2024

By Promit Mukherjee and Nivedita Balu

OTTAWA (Reuters) - With many Canadian homeowners facing a sharp rise in mortgage payments, many of them have decided to bail, resulting in the highest number of Toronto housing units for sale in more than a decade and signaling a big drop in prices in the coming months.

In Toronto, a city where two-thirds of the country's condominiums are sold, considered a bellwether for other big metropolitan areas, inventories have pushed past highs reached 10 years ago, data showed. At the same time, sales have lagged.

Rising inventories with anemic sales show a high degree of stress in Canada's biggest property market, real estate consultants said. It indicates either a string of defaults or a price correction is in the offing.

Fueling the surge in available properties are homeowners and investors who bought houses and apartments five years ago at record-low mortgage rates, aiming to grab a piece of Toronto's lucrative rental market.

But those mortgages are now coming up for renewal in an interest rate environment starkly different than it was five years ago. Mortgage rates are sharply higher, although the Bank of Canada has recently started to guide them down.

In Canada, mortgages are typically for 25 years and renewed every three or five years, in contrast to the United States, where homeowners can enjoy a flat rate for the entire life of a 15-year or 30-year mortgage.

Under current rates, many homeowners would have their mortgage payments double, according to a calculation by ratehub.ca, a website that compares mortgage offerings.

Next year, roughly C$300 billion ($219.33 billion) of mortgages at chartered banks will come up for renewal.

"Some of them are investors who now just want to walk away from their units because they can't afford it," said Carl Gomez, chief economist at CoStar Group, a U.S.-based real estate information provider.

At the same time, many are also reluctant to lower asking prices and book losses on their investment, he said, at least for now.

"There's just limited willingness to lose money," said Daniel Foch, director of economic research at RARE Real Estate. "It seems like nobody has really adjusted their expectations to a market in which they aren't going to make a profit," he said.

The trend is especially pronounced in the condominium market, where inventory is at a historic high, said John Lusink, president of Right at Home Realty, Canada's largest independent housing brokerage firm.

The current supply would typically take more than five months to sell.

"It is a buyers' market with no buyers," he said.

According to Toronto Regional Real Estate Board, a group representing 70,000 brokers and salespeople in the Toronto area, listings have risen by almost 25% in the first three months of 2024 from the same period a year ago. Meanwhile sales have edged up by only 5.3%.

The Bank of Canada's next rate decision comes on July 24 with a majority of economists expecting another cut of 25 basis points in the overnight rate. Last month, it trimmed the benchmark rate to 4.75% from 5% for the first time in four years.

But economists say that even as the central bank's rate comes down by 100 basis points, it would have a muted impact on mortgage rates coming up for renewal. Five-year fixed rates are instead linked to long-term bond yields, which might hover in the 3% to 4% range.

"Something's got to give," Lusink said, forecasting that Toronto condo prices might drop by 10% by end of the year.

($1 = 1.3678 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee and Nivedita Balu; Editing by Frank McGurty and Nick Zieminski)