TO boost the existing cooperation between the United States (U.S.) military and its Nigerian counterpart, Deputy to the Commander of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), Amb. J. Anthony Holmes, will visit the country between January 24 and 28 to meet with Nigerian military and security officials.

The visit will enable Holmes to gain a deeper understanding of the U.S.-Nigeria military relationship, common security goals on the continent and future priorities.

A statement made available to The Guardian by the U.S. mission office in Lagos yesterday, said Holmes would call on senior Nigerian Navy commanders and visit joint naval training facilities, and in Abuja, meet with the Minister of Defence before addressing military officers at the National Defence College.   Holmes would then travel to Kano to join a commissioning ceremony for a U.S.-sponsored renovation of a facility for visually and hearing impaired children.

The Tudun Maliki Special Education School in Kano is the only school for students who are visually impaired or hearing impaired in Kano State.  Recent renovations of seven buildings at the school totalled $84,600 and will help to alleviate overcrowding, improve sanitation, and create a better learning environment for the school’s nearly 1,000 students. The school will also receive a total of 5,000 books and 500 mosquito nets from the USAID American Educators for Africa project.    A Humanitarian Assistance team from Africa Command carried out these renovations in partnership with U.S. Mission Nigeria and Kano education authorities.

As U.S. Africa Command’s Deputy for Civil-Military Activities (DCMA), Holmes directs programmes in health and humanitarian assistance, de-mining, disaster response, security sector reform, and peace support operations.
Meanwhile, a recent customer satisfaction survey validates what U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has long asserted – that the Obama administration’s commitment to building the E-Verify system is the right investment in building a viable tool to ensure a legal workforce in the United States.     

Also, a report about E-Verify – just issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) – cites improvements in the reduction of mismatch rates, ensuring employer compliance, and establishing better safeguards for employees’ personal information.

More than 243,000 employers representing more than 834,000 worksites currently use E-Verify. On average, 1,000 new employers enroll each week. In FY 2010, the E-Verify Programme ran more than 16 million queries.
According to the USCIS, the customer survey evaluated key aspects of the E-Verify programme such as registration, tutorial, ease of use, technical assistance, and customer service. E-Verify received an exceptionally high overall customer satisfaction score – 82 out of 100 the American Customer Satisfaction Index scale – compared to the government’s overall satisfaction score.

One of the aspects of E-Verify that respondents liked the most was its customer support, which received a score of 89 – based significantly on enhancements to the system made under the Obama administration. Other key findings of the survey revealed that the overwhelming majority of users were likely to recommend E-Verify to other employers, were confident in E-Verify’s accuracy, and were likely to continue using the programme.

Posted by admin on Jan 20 2011. Filed under Headlines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry