The United Kingdom High Commission in Nigeria has announced the reopening of its visa application centres in the country.
This is coming some days after the high commission had shut down its visa application centres in Victoria Island, Abuja and Lagos over the outbreak of violence arising from #EndSARS protests against police brutality and extra-judicial killings. This has led to the loss of lives and destruction and looting of public and private assets across the country.
The disclosure was made by the high commission in a statement through a tweet post on its official Twitter handle.
The high commission, however, noted in its statement, titled, ‘Update on UK visa application centres in Nigeria’ that its centres would not open on Thursday due to the public holiday in Nigeria due to the Eid-El Malaud celebration
The statement from the UK high commission, partly reads, “Our TLS contact visa application centres are now open in Nigeria. Following the recent closures, we are working hard to process all outstanding applications.’’
“We thank you for your continued patience and understanding. Please note Thursday, October 29, is a public holiday in Nigeria and our Visa application centres will be closed.”
The reopening of the visa applications centres after they were shut about a week ago is due to the gradual return of peace and order to some of those trouble spots following the intervention of security The UK high commission had been very critical of the outbreak of violence in the country, especially the shooting of unarmed protesters at Lekki Tollgate by alleged military personnel and asked the government to thoroughly investigate the incident and ensure justice is done.
In its statement, the high commission said, ‘’We remain concerned by acts of looting and violence in Nigeria and urge security services use restraint as the order is restored. Working with all stakeholders, judicial panels of inquiry must investigate all incidents, including Lekki and ensure accountability for crimes.
