By Niyi Adebisi from Atlanta, Georgia, USA
International passport is a document that almost every citizen takes for granted until he or she becomes a victim of harassment, extortion, disappointment, trip cancelation, loss of golden opportunities, diplomatic bureaucracies, etc engendered by expired or invalid international passport.
I have heard and read numerous heartbreaking stories regarding what Nigerians have been experiencing across the globe while trying to obtain new passports, renew existing passports or correct errors in their existing, but still valid, passports. However, numerous gallant strides of the Nigerian Immigration under the leadership of Minister Rauf Aregbesola over the last few years were expected to have resulted into significant improvements in how Nigerians are being served all over the world. Unfortunately however, a number of recent events and experiences of Nigerians demand the urgent attention of our Honorable and Indefatigable Minister of Interior that is in charge of Nigerian Immigration Services across the globe.
Starting with a more pressing incident, a Nigerian physician from Osogbo, State of Osun, recently won an international fellowship scholarship to further her education. Unfortunately however, her Nigerian international passport requires some data corrections, which she has been trying to correct since May 2022 but to no avail. Specifically, her middle name requires correction to match what is on her academic records and her surname name needs to be changed from her maiden name to her married name. These corrections are yet to be effected at the moment despite the fact that this lady will lose this golden opportunity if the corrected passport is not issued to her latest by the first week of October, 2022. Honorable Minister Aregbesola sir, kindly intervene to ensure that this physician does not miss or lose this golden opportunity.
The second incident was that of my wife who missed her flights from Atlanta, USA to Edmonton, Canada on September 17, 2022 because she could not get her Nigerian passport renewed timely enough despite paying $370 to a facilitator at the Nigerian embassy in Atlanta that was supposed to fast track this passport renewal. Before then, she had read and heard stories of many Nigerians that applied online but allegedly still not able to get their passports renewed for over five months from the same Nigerian embassy in Atlanta. Considering the fact that she knew she would soon need her passport to travel, she submitted renewal application on August 5, 2022. Because the passport was not yet renewed by the end of August, but she needed to be in Canada mid September, she approached the Nigerian embassy in Atlanta where she was given a printout document with assurance that the airline would accept that document in place of Nigerian passport. Unfortunately however, Delta Airline refused to accept this document upon arriving at the Atlanta International airport on September 17, 2022. It is becoming scary that she will be missing a very important appointment in Canada that is coming up on September 20, 2022 just because of unnecessary and avoidable bureaucratic bottlenecks in renewing Nigerian passports.
Now coming to my own personal experiences, my Nigerian international passport expired in 2020. I counted on renewing this passport upon arriving Osogbo, State of Osun, Nigeria thinking that it would be faster and easier than attempting to renew it either in the USA or Canada since the Nigerian Immigration Headquarters in the State of Osun is less than five-minute drive from my house in Osogbo.
The first embarrassment or delay I experienced as a Nigerian traveling with an expired Nigeria passport was with the airline that was not sure whether or not it was legal to transport me into Nigeria with an expired Nigerian passport. I showed the airline staff my valid USA passport that would make it legal for the airline to transport me internationally with an explanation that my expired Nigerian passport should be utilized as a proof that I am a Nigerian. The airline finally agreed after about an hour of cross-referencing that nearly resulted into me missing my flight on June 23, 2022 from Edmonton, Canada to Amsterdam enroute Lagos, Nigeria.
The second harassment, embarrassment and or extortion attempt that I experienced was at the point of entry at Muritala Muhammed International Airport (MMA) in Ikeja, Lagos on June 24, 2022 when the immigration officer that attended to me tried to prevent me from entering Nigeria. After a long argument, he finally let me go.
The third surprise I experienced was at the Immigration Headquarters in Osogbo. I went to that office with the euphoria of renewing my passport and have new passport issued within two days as I was able to do in 2015 while renewing the passport that just expired. What I met was however completely different from my expectation. I was informed that the earliest time I could get an appointment for biometrics capturing was August 16, 2022.
I wondered why I needed another biometrics capturing despite the fact that my passport that just expired was supposed to be a digital passport and my information in the database of the Nigerian Immigration that was used during the process of issuing this expired passport should still suffice. Moreover, I confirmed that the same information of mine remained intact in the database of the Nigerian Immigration during the argument I had with immigration officers at the MMA on June 24, 2022 before I was finally allowed to enter Nigeria. I asked myself of what use would recapturing my biometrics be to the Nigerian Immigration system other than share waste of time and resources. I wondered to myself why the Nigerian Immigration could not simply print out a renewed passport for me with the biodata of mine in its database since none of such information of mine had changed.
I pleaded with these Immigration Officers in Osogbo that I would be departing Nigeria by July 31, 2022, but I was informed that there was nothing that could be done to assist or expedite renewal of my Nigerian passport. I asked to discuss with a supervisor, but the story was the same. While at the same headquarters, an Immigration Officer offered to assist. He asked me if I could go to Ilorin or Abuja branch of the Nigerian Immigration for renewal of this passport. He said that he would connect me with someone at either of the two branches. For some reasons however, he suddenly changed his mind.
The last shock I experienced was while I was departing on July 31, 2022 at the MMA. I almost missed my flight that day because, once again, the immigration officer that attended to me would not clear me to depart Nigeria until Officer Emmanuel, the supervising immigration officer on duty at that time, intervened and allowed me to depart Nigeria.
I also wonder why having immigration officers at the points of departure from Nigeria. What are their functions at the points of departure? My understanding of immigration services is that these officers are to protect influx of illegal immigrants. This justifies the presence of Immigration Officers at the points of entry into Nigeria. What is the function of having immigration officers at the points of departure from Nigeria? Is this to prevent illegal exit from Nigeria? I thought that is the function of officers of the Department of State Security Services (DSS) who are equally well represented as well at the points of departure from Nigeria. I have entered and exited many countries in my life and Nigeria happens to be the only country I can remember with Immigration Officers manning the exit or departure points. I believe this is another share waste of resources that is worth looking in to by the Honorable Minister of Interior sir.
Honorable Minister Aregbesola sir, I seize this opportunity to humbly advise you to use your good office in training and retraining Nigerian Immigration officers in Nigeria and outside Nigeria on how to process issuance of Nigerian passports more efficiently to Nigerians that are suffering various preventable harms and burdens because of various challenges we are currently facing in the process of applying for Nigerian passports in Nigeria and outside Nigeria. The aforementioned incidents are just the tip of an iceberg when narrating the ordeals and sour experiences Nigerians are suffering across the globe while trying to get Nigerian passports.
In conclusion sir, while comparing apples with oranges may not always be right, I want to advise that learning how the USA is able to issue her citizens USA passports within 72 hours (just three days) is not a bad idea sir. Please visit the following link to view what the USA passport office has as options for Americans – https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/get-fast.html.
Sir, Nigeria borrowing a good leaf from the USA on how she is able to do it so efficiently and effectively for Americans is a great idea that will significantly improve how Nigerian Immigration Services serve the needs of Nigerians across the globe.
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