DFA recommends lifting of deployment ban to Nigeria

 

“We have reviewed the overall security situation in Nigeria and have concluded that the insurgency in the Niger Delta has been properly addressed,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said in a letter to Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz.

 

Excerpts of the letter were posted Friday afternoon on The Official Gazette website.

 

Del Rosario noted no recent kidnapping incidents have been noted so far in Nigeria, which he said has become a "vibrant democracy with a thriving economy."

 

"According to our ambassador in Nigeria, 5,000 jobs in the oil, gas and construction industries awaiting our OFWs in Nigeria,” he added.

 

The Philippine government had imposed a deployment ban in Nigeria amid kidnapping incidents involving Filipino seafarers in the Niger Delta from 2006 to 2009.

 

The DFA said there are now 7,240 Filipinos in Nigeria, mostly professionals and Filipino nationals married to Nigerians.

 

"A number of them have expressed the desire that the deployment ban be lifted," the DFA said.

 

On the other hand, Philippine Ambassador Nestor Padalhin noted a demand for skilled Filipino workers for Nigerian industries, after meeting with Nigerian officials.

 

The Philippines and Nigeria will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations in 2012. — RSJ, GMA News