I am very angry right now.

What are the roles of the foreign embassies in Nigeria? Why do the semi-literates in these embassies deny Nigerian professionals and others the basic right to acquire entry visas that will allow them visit many countries in Europe and other places?

A recent case at the French Embassy in Nigeria is still causing a source of agitation in my mind and here I will narrate the story. Wale has worked as a professional banker for more than 15 years. In these 15 years or more, he has travelled to all the continents on planet earth. First he worked in Lagos on Marina Street with Nigerian’s foremost merchant bank.

About 5 years ago like many of his contemporaries Wale relocated to Abuja and took up another job but still in the banking industry. This year alone, Wale has travelled to the United States on a number of occasions. He has also been to the United Kingdom, Dubai and Malaysia. Wale has travelled the entire length and breadth of Nigeria and Africa. As I write this article, he is on his way to Asaba, then to Onitsha and then Aba.

This has been the nature of Wale’s job for over a decade-travelling and meeting with clients and seeking the prosperity of Nigeria. When he leaves Aba at the end of this week, he would be on his way to Switzerland but this time for the purpose of education to advance his professional life and this is where the crux of my anger with the French Embassy in Nigeria sets in.

Wale will attend a professional course in Switzerland for 3 weeks starting June 16. At the end of the course, the school is offering a school trip to Paris by bus. Wale would definitely like to be part of the trip after which he would also like to take a flight to Sweden where his younger brother lives.

Switzerland is not a member of the EU and she is also not a Schengen state. Hence, Wale turned to the French Embassy for a schengen visa since all schengen countries offer that. Unfortunately, Wale was denied a schengen visa by the French. It was only at the interview that they told him to present a hotel booking in Paris.

Wale explained to them at the embassy that he was not going to stay in Paris, that his destination is Sweden. But anyway if they wanted a booking for a hotel in Paris, this would have been easily done by Wale or his brother in Sweden. Wale spent a great deal of time explaining the entire situation to the nonentities at the French embassy, but they were hell-bent on denying him the visa. If he was to present the hotel booking in Paris, he cannot do that until another 15 days at which time the course would have started in Geneva. The embassies have a silly rule that keeps a failed applicant away for minimum 15 days.

How can a man who is going to Geneva be denied a schengen visa to Paris? It is totally despicable and nonsensical. It is absolute rubbish! Wale has been to Sweden before in 2005. Then he was on a business trip to Brussels and he had a Schengen visa so it was easy to take a flight to Sweden. He stayed for only 5 days and went back to Nigeria.

I don’t know how many Nigerian passports Wale has used in the last 15 years but it must be quite a number. Why didn’t the half-educated people at the French embassy have a thorough look at the visas and stamps on these passports? I am very mad right now as I imagine the trauma that they put Wale through.

He was really upset at this development and he regretted that he didn’t turn to the Swedish Embassy in the first place. I mean what difference does it make? A man is going to Paris and would like to touch Sweden before he returns to work in Abuja. He presented his ticket to those fools but that didn’t matter. How could he have known that the people working at the French embassy in Nigeria have no initiatives of their own? That they are completely stereotyped dummies.

Wale is just one of the several legitimate cases of Nigerians who have been denied the right to travel out of Nigeria to pursue one thing or the other. A number of students have been traumatized because they cannot obtain visa to further their education abroad. Many legitimate Nigerian tourists are locked down there without right to get back their application fees or to even re-apply. In a way, the foreign embassies in Nigeria have continued to rip millions of naira from Nigeria every year.

If the embassy is in doubt of an application, what does it take them to crosscheck with the destination of the applicant? In Wale’s case, what is the doubt about? He has a visa to Switzerland and I am pretty sure he still has valid entry visas to the US and UK? What is their problem? They should give me one reason why Wale will stay in Paris if he was given a Schengen visa.

I am actually using this medium to call the French Embassy to order. If this is what they do to legitimate travelers, then they should pack out of Nigeria forthwith. Nonsense! If there are more embassies like the French Embassy, then the Federal Government should wake up and have a chat with them. They cannot continue to threat Nigerians with contempt in Nigeria? We don’t do similar things to them when they apply to visit our country. That is unacceptable and this is the message Wale wanted me to get across to the Nigerian Government.

aderounmu@gmail.com

Thy Glory O’ Nigeria…!

Robot  # 1 | 09.06.2008 14:58

It is annoying that one stupid and ignorant person at the Embassy with probably a Secondary Schoo...Read the full article.

Ednut  # 2 | 09.06.2008 16:05

As I write this article, he is on his way to Asaba, then to Onitsha and then Aba. Sir, this Wale guy, why is he the person being sent to these places named in your article quoted here as a proof of Wale’s pedigree as a world class traveler? Did he obtain a legitimate Biafran Visa or does his company not have a person that will not need Biafran Visa in employment?

Nkire  # 3 | 09.06.2008 16:25

I am very angry right now. Adeola Aderounmu ____________________________________ Mr. Aderounmu: I must confess that I did not read your entire write-up. I gather that it has something to do with French embassy misbehavior in Nigeria, etc. Please do not take this personally, I would have reacted the same way if this article had been written by anyone else. Nigerians at this time should only be angry at their government and all the people within the corridors of power. The French has their system. It is probably not perfect, you and I are Nigerians, do we have a system? I wrote the below on a different thread, however, I think it is an appropriate response here. In fact, I think it is an appropriate response or any variation of it any other Village can come up with to any article posted in this Square. I am totally afraid for Nigeria! ______________________________________________________________ Villagers: Why we are here contributing to this article and rightfully so, if I may add, are we thinking through what is actually going on now, even as we write and argue? Who amongst us would have hazarded a guess that Nigerian oil could sale for $75 a barrel, $80, $90, $100, $120, $130? If this much money is accruing to Nigeria at close to 2 million barrels per day, where is the evidence on the ground? If the Nigerian budget was prepared and passed into law based on a projected revenue of $60 a barrel, what is happening to the excess revenue (windfall) arising from the current boom engendered by the current global energy crisis? Where are the major federal highways that should be under construction running east to west, north to south and mid-way and in-between? Where is the positive doubling change in megawatts of electricity that is being generated? Where, what, how goes this unprecedented increase in revenue accruing to all levels of governments in Nigeria? Are we nuts? In the life of any nation-state, once in a while something happens – an opportunity presents itself, light shines upon the face of the country, the stars re-aligns for the country’s well-being. Generally, serious nation-states recognize the change in the fortunes and take advantage to the nth degree. History of great nations is replete with these changes in fortunes. Nigeria is at that fork on the road with this windfall. What are we going to do with it? In another five to then years, reliable alternative sources of energy will emerge, which will reduce the influence of the black gold in world political economy. This is Nigeria’s last chance. What is the plan for this unexpected windfall? If Nigeria fails to make good with this manna from the Heavens at this time AND if no one or a group rises up to cleans out the corrupt ruling class from every ethnic enclave, may the gods punish Nigeria, may winds gusting at 300 miles per hour come and sweep her and her coward inhabitants off the face of the earth, may a Tsunami emerge from the beaches of Lagos Lagoon and sweep through the hinterlands and prairie to the Sahara north and to the Atlantic south. If the Nigerian-super state fails to reconstruct and rehabilitate every region with this new found wealth, then Nigeria is not fit be a country and her citizens does not deserve mercy. What is happening right now is as much mercy as she is going to get! How does any one justify 4,000 megawatts of electricity for 140 million people? If Nigeria and Nigerians were serious people, the entire place will be a bee-hive of all manners of construction right now, employing our unemployed youth and teaching them how to build and maintain road networks, railways networks, sewage and drainage systems, waterways, water treatment plants and distribution systems, health and ambulatory services, electrical power generation and distribution systems, waste management and disposal and systemized urban planning agenda to reorganize our cities and start a system of village squares and local government fair grounds for institutionalizing a modern Nigerian way of life that starts at the bottom in our towns and village to the cities. In the words of Senator Barrack Obama, this is our moment – Nigeria’s moment to finally get it right and pull herself together. The lack of outrage at Nigeria’s snail pace development on the face of this seemingly inexplicable sudden wealth is an outrage on its face beyond words. What is going on? Can’t we all get it? Why the silence? Is there a hidden plan? Am I just the Jeremiah crying in the wilderness? In the words of former Senator Robert Dole, “Where is the outrage?" The amount of money that is accruing daily to Nigeria is unimaginable, yet we still have our family members in Nigeria calling us in the dead of night for dollars, even as we grapple with $5 a gallon gas here. In this Square, I read a lot of anger about Nigeria, some justified, some not so much. Can there ever be a more appropriate time to be angry about Nigeria than right about now? Will this be like another Gowon with the foolish mantra: All this money, what to do? The slow pace of Yar-Duah essentially means: Nigerians will soon forget that all these additional monies came our way in a few years time, equivalent to the Gulf war windfall under Babangida that came to naught, just watch! Again, if this broken house called Nigeria is not fixed with these manna-like riches, equivalent to gambling wins, we should stop talking about Nigeria because she should be dead, we should pull down this village square or change the name because the brand would no longer suffice, the place called Nigeria should become like a planted tuber yam that must first rot to the head before a young tendril can have the oxygen to erupt, hopefully to metamorphose into something that is patently and manifestly un-Nigerian. Cheers, Nkire

dele26  # 4 | 09.06.2008 16:41

=Nkire;4295053163> Villagers: Why we are here contributing to this article and rightfully so, if I may add, are we thinking through what is actually going on now, even as we write and argue? Who amongst us would have hazarded a guess that Nigerian oil could sale for $75 a barrel, $80, $90, $100, $120, $130? If this much money is accruing to Nigeria at close to 2 million barrels per day, where is the evidence on the ground? If the Nigerian budget was prepared and passed into law based on a projected revenue of $60 a barrel, what is happening to the excess revenue (windfall) arising from the current boom engendered by the current global energy crisis? Where are the major federal highways that should be under construction running east to west, north to south and mid-way and in-between? Where is the positive doubling change in megawatts of electricity that is being generated? Where, what, how goes this unprecedented increase in revenue accruing to all levels of governments in Nigeria? Nkire, Thank you for the useful post. The day the world discovers the alternative to petroleum will mark the beginning of the end for that country they call Nigeria as it will be too late then

dele26  # 5 | 09.06.2008 16:57

Wether your name na Adeola Aderounmu abi na Wale, the French embassy owes you no apology. Sir, wether the visa officer is illiterate or not it is his/her prerogative to grant the French or schenge visa to whoever he/she thinks deserves it. Na by force to collect Visa? Visiting has always been a mutual agreement except in Nigeria and to Nigerians?

Ochi Dabari  # 6 | 10.06.2008 01:20

Nkire, The "wise" govt officials are doing quite a lot with the oil windfall. They are buying houses overseas for themselves and their children and saving for their children's children to the nth generation. They are also building quite a lot of mansions at home in Nigeria, with all the prison barricades. Since the rest of the citizenship is angry, armed robbery is growing but our "wise" rulers will employ these angry people to protect themselves. If it comes to the worst, when alternatives to oil are discovered, our "wise" rulers and their families will relocate to Europe, Asia and America and face the racial discriminations there. There is nothing they have not planned for. They are even going overseas to die already! As for Wale, he made a big mistake in applying for the Shengen visa in France, when it is obvious that he could have done that at the Swedish Embassy. In the past, it was easy for dubious Nigerians and citizens of other despicable countries (you can include Pakistan, India, Ghana, Bangladesh, etc) would confound the immigration officers by applying for a distant country, transit in a nearby one and then get lost in transit. Embassy staff have since known about these things as they keep records of who is transiting and not departing - they are not like us, who can't even keep records of members of their families. So, once anything suspicious is detected, they take precautions and reject the visa application. The onus is on the applicant to present a clear application - the embassy staff are not ready to consult a babalawo, to help them separate genuine cases from the dubious. And it does not matter how many countries one had visited and departed - the world sees Nigeria as a place waiting to implode; they also see that wise ones have alternative plans, either to depart now or plan to depart when the implosion occurs. That was the fate Wale suffered. He should actually travel less and focus on his work. I used to travel a lot before but have stopped. There is not much difference between one city and the other, particularly in the West; the major difference is in the sadness of the faces. You do see more variety across African cities, including the danger. Oh well, it is even more difficult to get the Kenyan visa than a French visa. And now someone is asking if Wale got the Biafran visa bfore visiting Asaba and Aba:lol: ochi =Nkire;4295053163>____________________________________ ...History of great nations is replete with these changes in fortunes. Nigeria is at that fork on the road with this windfall. What are we going to do with it? In another five to then years, reliable alternative sources of energy will emerge, which will reduce the influence of the black gold in world political economy. This is Nigeria’s last chance. What is the plan for this unexpected windfall?... Nkire

Papino  # 7 | 10.06.2008 04:18

Though i understand your anger,but the French embassy reserves the right to deny your freind visa if he does NOT meet up the requirements at the time of interview.The visa officer does not need to be a professor or former banker with loads of degrees to effectively carry out visa application requirement. Meanwhile,the actual mission of your freind to Paris is NOT clear as you keep hinting that he would be enroute sweden.Wetin ihm wan do for Paris nah? Geography does not help anybody that wants to go to Sweden from Switzerland through Paris.Go figure:D

Olu Affairs  # 8 | 10.06.2008 08:11

Nkire, May God continue to bless you. Up on till reading this, i was under the impression that i was the only one who thought there was something seriously flawed in the make up of Nigeria the nation and it's people, my humble self included. Even the so called erudite intellectuals amongst whom almost all VILLAGERS rank are complacent in raising any serious thought provoking eyebrows about the failure of Nigeria as an entity thus far. We have all refused to make bold and attest to the fact that if everyone keeps chipping and hacking away at the national cake there is definitely bound to be a implosion of some sort in the future. The trend even amongst my contemporaries (early forties professionals) is shocking once they have somehow rightly or wrongly attained the lofty goal of becoming one of the elites. I'm not a pessimist and still believe that Nigeria can rise from these gloomy prevailing realities to become the Giant of Africa that it should rightly be.

Lalakokofefe  # 9 | 10.06.2008 10:54

Something doesn't quite add up here. If he is going to Sweden by BUS from Switzerland, why does he need to "transit" in Paris ? In any case, all embassies reserve the right to refuse you a visa if you do not MEET their conditions.

sammyduyo  # 10 | 10.06.2008 11:12

I believe the writer stated that visiting Paris by bus, was part of the course in Switzerland.

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