UK says it will monitor Nigeria's elections and deny visas to anyone involved in vote rigging

BRITAIN has pledged to support Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) to ensure that next year's elections are free and fair as well as monitor the polls to help guard against any irregularities.

In February 2023, Nigeria goes to the polls in nationwide general elections to elect a president, governors, members of the National Assembly and members of state houses of assembly in all 36 states. Catriona Laing, the British high commissioner to Nigeria, said the UK would monitor the elections closely and use its visa programme to punish whoever is involved in electoral violence either directly or indirectly.

Ms Laing said: “We, alongside our US partners, will be monitoring this election closely on the ground and through other means. If we understand that an individual has been involved in violence, either directly or through inciting violence, we can use our visa programme to ensure that that person is not allowed to travel to the UK.”

Meanwhile, she added that the number of Nigerians applying for visas to the UK has increased in recent times. She noted, however, that the UK government was mindful of the situation and was in talks with the Nigerian government to avoid causing brain-drain, especially in the health sector.

However, the high commissioner expressed her delight that the UK had become an attractive destination for Nigerians, especially students, adding that the UK was ready to welcome talents. She added: "There is obviously people of Nigerian origin in the UK, so people like to go where they have family or where they have friends and secondly, the English language obviously makes it a lot easier.

“Thirdly is the education and people who have studied in the UK will want to return. I think you know, we are a welcoming country and we want to welcome talents, whether it’s people coming to study, or people coming to work.

“So, a lot of Nigerians will be tuned to the UK and we have seen actually a very big increase in requests for Nigerian student visas, which is partly because we have changed our policy. So it is now easier for Nigerians, students to remain after their studies, they can stay for, I think, up to two years if you have done a masters or a PhD, which will enable people to look for work after they have studied.

 “We have labour shortage in the UK at the moment but we have to balance that because we do not also want to be responsible for a massive brain-drain from Nigeria because you also need talented people. So the health sector is an example where there is a lot of Nigerian medics, both nurses and doctors in the National Health Service.”

Responding to why the UK is sending asylum seekers to Rwanda, Ms Laing said it was to enhance migration in partnership with Rwanda. She said it was just one element of trying to deal with what is frankly a huge problem.