The Angolan envoy to Nigeria, gave the assurance while inaugurating the Angola Visa centre in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.

According to him, there are lots of hurdles experienced by both countries (Nigeria and Angola) in terms of accessing the Angola visa from Port Harcourt, hence, the need for the centre.

The envoy noted that, the centre was expected to satisfy the travel needs of the Angolan community resident in South-south and South-east Nigeria.

His word,

“I have been on duty in Nigeria for less than a year during which I’m ensuring a better business approach between Nigeria and Angola.

“One of my targets is to enhance travel experience for the Angolan and Nigerian communities and one of the ways to achieve this is to ensure an easy facilitation in terms of visa procurement.

“These communities have suffered lots of hurdles shuttling both countries from Port Harcourt; sometimes, when they have to fly to Abuja to procure their visas, they end up missing business appointments and spending extra cost on hotels.

“That’s why we are here in Port Harcourt, to enhance speedy procurement of Angolan visas which is easy and also possible within 24 hours.

Onyemaechi Ejindu, CEO, Akwahelms Ltd, who is also a partner in the centre, said it was poised to ensure professional strategies that would enhance the travel experience to Angola.

He said that the advantage of having the collection centre in Port Harcourt was to help address the difficulties of travelling to Lagos or Abuja to facilitate visa allocations.

“Now that the Angolan Embassy has brought a visa centre closer to the south and eastern states, we also look forward to collaborating with other airlines that will be linked to the Angolan national airline in terms of connectivity.

“As we speak, it’s surprising the number of Nigerian/Angolan community that shuttle between Angola and Port Harcourt for various types of businesses.

“This is why we made efforts to establish this centre in order to reach out to those who are into trading and other businesses,” he said.

Mr Ejindu said that Angola, like Nigeria, has lots of attractions and that both countries were beginning to appreciate their similarities and also exploiting economic relationships.

According to him, just like Nigeria, Angola is richly endowed with crude oil and other natural deposits like gold, diamond and many others.

This was stated by Hajia Sadiya Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, at a One-Day Stakeholders’ Retreat On National Social Investment (Establishment) Bill organized by the Senate Committee On Social Duties.

Dr. Nasir Gwarzo, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, represented Farouq at the event.

The goal of the National Social Investment Programme Establishment Bill, according to the minister, was to provide a statutory and institutional framework for the National Social Investment Programme’s implementation.

The minister explained that the National Social Investment Programme Establishment Bill’s goal was to provide a statutory and institutional framework for the National Social Investment Programme’s implementation.

She stated that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd. ), established the NSIP in 2016 to address social and economic inequalities and alleviate poverty among Nigerians.

According to her, four social support programs are meant to empower the poorest and most vulnerable Nigerians to enable them to attain an acceptable standard of living.

She said, “Since the inception of the NSIP in 2015, one million youths have been empowered through the N-Power Programme and additional 500,000 others are currently undergoing various forms of training under the program as approved by the President.

“The cash transfer has enrolled 1,975,381 poor and vulnerable households from the National Social Register into a National Beneficiary Register. The NBR alone has 9, 841, 700 household individuals in the 36 states of the federation.

“The Cash Transfer supports the poor and vulnerable to improve consumption and develop savings skills to reduce the poverty line and build their resilience to withstand shocks.

“A total of 1, 940, 004 beneficiaries are currently receiving cash transfers each month. Public Primary Schools across the country have witnessed an unprecedented number of new enrollments as a result of the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme.

The program is currently feeding 10 million pupils in over 66, 000 public schools across Nigeria. The program is gradually reducing cases of out-of-school children nationwide.”