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Trump shuts down migrant appointment app minutes after inauguration

Published

17 hours ago

January 21, 2025

Donald Trump administration officials shut down a mobile app designed for migrants to schedule appointments at the U.S.-Mexico border mere minutes after the new president took office on Monday, Jan. 20.

By disabling the CBP One app, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials effectively cancelled all pending appointments made by migrants without visas who were seeking entry into the United States through legal ports of entry.

This move marks part of a broader effort by the new administration to impose stricter measures at the border, despite a significant decrease in migration over the past six months.

According to CBP data, U.S. officials encountered 96,048 foreign nationals at the border in December. Of those, 48,722 sought formal admission at a port of entry.

The last time monthly encounters dipped below 100,000 before November was in January 2021, coinciding with former President Biden’s inauguration. That month, CBP reported 78,414 encounters, with only 3,098 individuals presenting at ports of entry. The remainder were intercepted by Border Patrol agents after crossing the border illegally.

CBP One had been a cornerstone of the Biden administration’s strategy to direct migrants toward legal avenues for seeking refuge in the United States.

President Trump is expected to sign ten executive orders on Monday addressing border policy, including measures to dismantle pathways introduced during the previous administration.

These actions aim to revert to earlier policies, such as the Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy. Under this program, approximately 70,000 third-country nationals were returned to Mexico over two years to await decisions on their U.S. asylum applications.

Related Topics:Biden inauguration president States Trump

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Nigeria Commiserates With Republic Of Turkiye Over Kartalkaya Ski Resort Hotel Fire Incident

Published

1 hour ago

January 21, 2025

Gloria Ikibah

By Gloria Ikibah

The Federal Republic of Nigeria has commiserated with the Government and People of the Republic of Turkiye over the unfortunate fire incident at the Grand Kartal Hotel in the Kartalkaya Ski Resort.

This was contained in a statement by the

Acting Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa, on Monday in Abuja.

The statement reads in part: “The Federal Government of Nigeria sympathizes with the Government of the Republic of Turkiye and the families of the victims of the fire incident, and also wishes a speedy recovery of the injured”.

Naijablitznews.com recalled that the fire, which claimed the lives of 66 persons and injured over 50 others in Bolu Province in Northwestern Turkiye, was reported to have started in the early hours of Tuesday 21st January 2025.

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Teaching Hospitals Risk Losing Key Medical Staff as Experts Sound Alarm Over Mass Exodus

Published

2 hours ago

January 21, 2025

Gloria Ikibah

By Gloria Ikibah

Chief Medical Directors (CMDs) of teaching hospitals in Nigeria have expressed concerns over the increasing loss of doctors, nurses, and other skilled health workers, despite government investments in health infrastructure.

They ascribed the alarming trend, to poor remuneration and inadequate pay packages, adding that it threatens to leave the nation’s tertiary hospitals understaffed.

The CMD Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Professor Wasiu Adeyemo, and his counterpart from the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Professor Jesse Abiodun, raised these concerns during the 2025 budget defence session before the House of Representatives Committee on Health Institutions.

Professor Adeyemo highlighted the urgency of the matter, stating, “The rate at which medical workers are leaving the country is alarming. We need to act fast to address this situation.”

This warning underscores the broader implications of brain drain in the health sector, with CMDs urging immediate action to improve working conditions and retain skilled personnel in the country.

He said, “People resign, retire not even retirement, resignation almost every day. Yes. In the next one or two years, we are going to have all our hospitals empty. We need to do something about remuneration of all the health care workers.

“Otherwise, government is putting a lot of money in infrastructure, and we are going to have empty hospitals. The major reason why people leave is for economic reasons. Consultants are earning less than $1,000”.

Giving details of the Hospital’s 2024 budget performance, the CMD informed that, they had a total budget of N19.2 billion out of which personnel has N13.57 billio and a total overhead of N33.2 million.

He added, “In terms of performance and utilization total Overhead was hundred percent as of December for the total Personnel, 91 percent performance but for the capital project 45 percent. So outstanding is 55 percent. November and December are released today we would cover maybe about 85 percent”.

The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Prof. Wasiu Adeyemo, while responding to observations by members of the Committee regarding personnel performance, explained that the hospital recorded a 95 percent performance rate.

He attributed this to the payment of benefits and other activities arising from the high number of resignations and retirements within the year.

He stated, “The 95 percent personnel performance we achieved is largely due to payments made for benefits and other related activities triggered by the resignations and retirements we experienced this year.”

“For the proposal for 2025, a total budget of 32.7 billion, out of which a total overhead which is better than that of last year. Personnel is 20.3. I think it’s 13 last year”.

The Chief Medical Director (CMD), University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Prof. Jesse Abiodun, expressed concern over the delayed release of budgeted funds to the hospital, stating that this has significantly hampered its operations.

Providing details of UCH’s 2024 budget, Prof. Abiodun disclosed that the hospital was allocated a capital appropriation of ₦5,593,110,394. However, he revealed that only 38 percent of the funds had been released, leaving a balance of 62 percent yet to be disbursed.

He said, “We have the 72% left. Yes, we actually were among the last people to be batched for payment, and the payment started coming in actually in this December. We were able to even utilize this 38 percent because we had already done the cash plan before the release.

“For 2025, that is on page one. So for the capital, we are proposing N4, 387, 763,661 for capital. This is a bit less than what we had in 2024. And that’s because of this envelope system, what we’re given, we have to work with it.

“The overhead, we have N690,006,464 only. There’s a bit of increase over that of 2024 because of the outrageous bills we are getting from Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company”.

Earlier in his remarks, the Committee Chairman, Rep. Patrick Umoh charged the CMDs of University Teaching Hospitals and Federal Medical Centers (FMCs) to be thorough in their presentations in order to provide a clear picture of their situations.

He said, “The reality is that you must extract the proposal made by Mr. President as it affects your medical center. It should be part of your budget, your presentation. The report of the 2024 budget performance and 2025 budget proposal is given provisional approval for now”.

Rep. Umoh lamented the precarious situation facing tertiary health institutions in the country.

The Chairman ruled that, while committee can not attend to all the health institutions, it will collect all their correspondences and submissions from the outstanding teaching hospitals to work on for further deliberations.

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Finance Ministry Seeks Upward Review Of N25bn In 2025 Budget Allocation

Published

2 hours ago

January 21, 2025

Gloria Ikibah

By Gloria Ikibah

The Ministry of Finance has called for an upward review of allocation in the 2025 budget.

Minister of State for Finance, Doris Uzoka-Anite stated this on Tuesday at the National Assembly during the ministry’s 2024 budget defense and 2025 budget proposal.

Uzoka-Anite reported a 100 per cent performance in personnel and overhead costs for 2024, and said that only 22 per cent of its capital budget has been release.

She said “The total budget for 2024 for the Federal Ministry of Finance was N8.10bn. Our performance based on 2024 was 100 per cent for overhead and 22 per cent for capital.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Lydia Jafiya, who advocated for increased funding in the 2025 fiscal year, said though the building housing the Ministry looks good externally, there was a need for rehabilitation of the offices.

“Our office looks good from the outside but the inside needs a lot of rehabilitation. We hope that you can improve our capital allocation as well as the overhead. And we think that together with the Senate Committee on Finance, we can improve our capital allocation and our overhead. The Minister of State gave a figure of N38bn as a total for 2025 but we will need additional N25bn as a way of improving our budget envelope,” she said.

But the request for more funding by the Finance Ministry did not go well with a member of the CoCommitteeRep. Amobi Ogah who questioned that, “If the Ministry of Finance could only have 22 per cent release, what is the hope of other agencies? Is there any hope for us in 2025?”

Other agencies present at the defence session included the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) and Ministry of Finance Incorporated.