INDIAN BILLIONAIRE GAUTAM ADANI CHARGED IN U. S. FOR ALLEGED BRIBERY, FRAUD. (PHOTO).

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  Indian billionaire Gautam Adani charged in US for alleged bribery, fraud Gautam Adani, the chair of Indian conglomerate Adani Group and one of the world’s richest people, whose business empire extends from ports and airports to renewable energy,has been indicted in New York over an alleged multibillion-dollar fraud scheme, United States prosecutors have said. The authorities on Wednesday charged Adani and two other executives at Adani Green Energy, his nephew Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain, with agreeing between 2020 and 2024 to pay more than $250m in bribes to Indian government officials to obtain solar energy supply contracts expected to yield $2bn in profits. Prosecutors said the renewable energy company also raised more than $3bn in loans and bonds during this period based on false and misleading statements. Shares of Adani Enterprises, the group's flagship firm, closed down 22% on Thursday. Other group firms also closed in the red. Adani Green Energy, which is the firm at the c

NIGERIANS TO PROCESS, OBTAIN PASSPORTS IN THEIR HOMES. (PHOTO).


 Nigerians to process, obtain passports in their homes


…Passports to be centrally issued from Abuja from April 2025


Nigerians will soon begin to process and receive Nigerian passports from the comfort of their homes, without the hassle of physically appearing to be processed at a passport processing centre.


However, only Nigerians who are 18 years and above, and those who are applying for re-issue of their expired passports will be able to process and obtain the contactless passports while fresh applicants will need to appear and register their biometrics at a passport processing centre for their passports.


The Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, announced the new strategy at a stakeholders’ forum where the contactless passport processing App was unfolded in Abuja on Friday.


Saturday Vanguard understands that the contactless passport processing project, which is meant to eliminate human contact as much as possible, is being jointly handled by two Nigerian firms-Irish Smart Technology and New World, which have been test-running the process for the past nine months.


The minister explained that the new technology was adopted to reduce the burden usually encountered by Nigerians at home and abroad in their quest to obtain a Nigerian passport and save them from being exploited by middlemen, who create artificial hurdles to fleece them.


Tunji-Ojo disclosed that the App had been designed to take care of every requirement for the issuance of Nigerian passport and make it seamless for applicants to obtain the travelling document with record time.

The minister announced that with effect from April next year, passport production will be centralized in Nigeria as no immigration attaché in any foreign mission would be allowed to approve visa issuance.


The minister also disclosed that the President has approved the retention of 50 per cent of NIS internally generated revenue to be able to handle most of its operations and reduce the delay in passport processing and other vital services being rendered by the agency to Nigerians at home and abroad.


He also said that no fewer than 32 forward operational bases are being built across the country to enhance the operations of the NIS and strengthen national security.


The Comptroller-General of the NIS, Mrs Kemi Nandep, told the stakeholders that the move for contactless passport issuance was to reduce the inconvenience associated with physical processing and to strengthen the security of the Nigerian passport in line with international best practices.

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