Have you had an encounter with the embassy of Nigeria before in any part of this world? , What you are about to read is the collaborative investigation of the embassies of Nigeria in different part of the world.I think it is safe to say this is the only institution the Nigeria government funds, and it is a complete waste of resources for Nigerians in diaspora.
The responsibilities of Nigeria embassies cannot be established, what they do, i don't know.Just some people in AC buses, AC offices, and wants you to call them Daddy/Mummy. They bring no growth to Nigerians in diaspora or Nigeria as a country. I stand to be corrected on this, if you can debate that, let me have your say.
If Nigerian citizens in the UK, Russia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Ireland, Canada, Thailand, Senegal and some other countries are all complaining,I think it is safe to say, Nigerian embassies are a waste of funds. I have been able to depend on the leadership of Nigerian association committees for help rather than the Nigerian embassy : A building of educated zombies...
At different times, Nigerian embassies have done nothing to help the Nigerians abroad, rather make more difficult. In this post you are about to read, am going to analyse some Nigerian embassy and how they had frustrated Nigerians in diaspora.
Nigeria Embassy,Canada: These embassies have been in the news for the wrong reasons. They came up around 2013 on national news in Canada, when some Nigerians had gone to the embassy only to find out that the embassy was locked and appointment was canceled without prior notification. This was the same embassy that had assured people to come to Ottawa for their passport re-issuing, need not to say that people had travelled from distanced locations within Canada spending lots of cash on transporation.
The truth is that the Nigerian government is happy to fund old men and incompetent women to different embassies, but failed to equip them with the fundamental skills, including ICT. They could not even give a pop-up on their website a week to the appointement cancellation of the Nigerians or giving them a courtesy call. It is very unfortunate, if you don't have the website administrator of your website, hire someone.
The Nigerian embassy crew must know this, when you are in Rome, act like a roman. This is the 21st century, you are either in the digital age, or go back to Nigeria and shuffle paper forms. Though, a video was released to counter this report, between reasonable Nigerians, it is all lies. The embassy crew lied, they hired the Nigeria association president in Ottawa to lied (I am disappointed). I am sure Ojo Maduekwe don't know the embassy website. He was blabbing throughout the interview.
Nigeria Embassy In Dubai : If you are travelling to Dubai, or you are a Nigerian living in Dubai, please be informed that you must be extra careful about people all around you. The Nigeria embassy here just like others is just a building of old men that have no idea about their responsibility.
Do you know at least every week, 1 or more Nigerian is said to be murdered in Dublin? I am yet to read about this in any Nigerian dailies or heard the embassy trying to investigate what happened. If you pick up your phone and talk to them, the ambassador or his crew will likely tell you that the people killed are drug dealers or doing illegal business. That is the way the Nigerian embassy looks at his own citizens, if you don't tell them what you do in 2 minutes you are there, you will notice their faces looking like you are about to rob them.
Do you remember the Aisha Falode case? During her interview on Sahara Tv said that:
The Nigerian Embassy have not been much of a help to it's citizens. When I met with the ambassador of Nigeria in Dubai, i was told that my son is just number 5 of the Nigerians that died a similar death that same week.
What information have the Nigerian Embassy passed out to parents sending their kids to Dubai? When they have such information, I think they should share the news to parents that are thinking of bringing their kids to Dubai. That is one of the reasons for embassy in a country. People should know that there is a dark side in Dubai. And the glittering and beautiful building is what they want the world to see, Aisha Falode said.
I want to get this information out and get justice for my son. I don't want to visit Dubai again, but i want to do this for Nigerian youth and let them know what is going on in Dubai.
Can you see what the ambassador just revealed to Aisha. The embassy is yet to reveal this to Nigerians, but will prefer Nigerian youths keep going and dying in Dublin.
Nigeria Embassy In Thailand: I am still trying to figure out why Nigeria has an embassy in Thailand. I just don't get it. I guess after Dublin, this place is another place Nigerians die like their lives don't matter without no proper investigations. The duty of the embassy here is not needed, and should be closed.
In a situation like Thailand, the association of Nigerians in Thailand seems to be doing a better job than the embassy, the old men/women can go home now. Go on youtube and type Nigeria embassy Thailand.
From a reliable source, the crew at the embassy are also involved in drug dealings. They are using some jobless Nigerians for their trade...We will investigate this news.
Nigeria Embassy In Turkey: Just like other embassies, the consular crew there is known for its very poor services to the Nigerian citizens. They have been accused of not discharging their duties in Turkey. Nigerian embassy in Turkey doesn't even have a website. Nigerians are not allowed inside the embassy.
Nigeria Embassy In Senegal: I came across a video in 2013, about how some Nigerians vandalized the embassy in Senegal. You can see the frustration and anger as they break down office windows, cars and many more. They had requested that their friend who is at the embassy be released by the Senegalese authority, and the deceased will be released on the embassy authority,but instead of the consular to find a day to do that, they won't and that was the result of the video.
Moreover, it is a shame that when host countries calls a Nigerian, drug addict or a fraud. Nigerians accept it and move on, but what is degrading is when your embassy where you believed you get comfort use the same name and attitude on you. The Nigerian embassies crew won't ask about how you survive, if you are a Nigerian in the embassy, you are definitely a fraud or drug smuggler.
How can you make the host country support you if your own country denies your existence. The crew travelling from Nigeria needs orientation before travelling. They shouldn't bring people that lacks knowledge of their own responsibility to the Nigerian embassy.
Nigeria Embassy In Malaysia: Since paying direct cash is one of the way of getting things done in Nigeria, the Nigeria embassy in Malaysia have been denied of this corrupt opportunities. So you will be unlucky to go to the embassy to get a new passport. You will need to pay online, that also means that the embassy will not be having his own cut.
The Nigeria embassy in Malaysia will ask you to pay double the amount of the passport fee if you find it difficult to pay online. The current price online is $106.00, that does not include VAT. But when you decided to pay cash at the embassy, the embassy would ask you to pay $250.00. The $150 is for transfer as they said someone at the embassy will need to use his card and will pay charges when paying on your behalf.
Now the funny thing about the old people at the embassy is that they play on your intelligence, and one of the things you enjoy as a writer and a lover of liars is when someone at the age of 40 is saying things you know are lies, but you enjoyed it anyways because you know a fool at the age of 40, well you can go figure.
The issue of payment is the lowest issue you are going to face, there is another issue of getting your data accurately captured. The Nigeria embassy will tell you the machine could not get your data, the same data he/she captured himself and told you to go home, because it is fine.
The embassy crew had infected the Malaysians working at the embassy because if you tell them you are a Nigerian, without saying a title like, Dr, Engineer or Professor. They will hang up on you. It happened to me 4 times, so most times, i am an engineer, so my calls could get through. When your call get through to the any of the offices, you will have no response and later the phone will be hanged up again.
After scraping their information on the internet on the internet, i was told to forward an email to their official email address. Well, i did that and no reply for another 2 months. This is the embassy representing its citizens?
Nigeria Embassy In Vietnam: This is probably the worst embassy. The embassy is a complete waste of land in Vietnam and had been of no use since it was established by Ex-president, Olusegun Obasanjo. The former president had created this embassy to grow business between the two countries when he was president, not sure if this embassy still exists, but the staff of the Nigerian embassy in Vietnam are known for always saying "We don't have information about this or that" . The staff are mostly known for sleeping or playing on Facebook.
The Nigeria embassy in Vietnam is yet to get it right and the building of the Nigeria embassy is tagged as the building of government officials that doesn't know their official responsibilities. The best way to have people answer you in Nigeria embassy is if you call them "Daddy" or "Mummy", you might be lucky if you are a lady with goody bags. If you are a man, good luck in getting it done at all.
Nigeria embassy staff have once yelled at a Nigeria for saying Good morning, he was asked to put the "Sir". This turned out to be a hot argument at the Nigeria embassy in Vietnam.
From a reliable sources, the Association of Nigerians in Vietnam had done 99.5% of what a Nigerian needs in Vietnam. The only thing you need to go and do at the embassy of Nigeria in Vietnam is stamp documents or sing the national anthem if you want to go back to school. Just like other embassies mentioned above, this embassy is another waste of Nigerian resources and also a waste of the Vietnamese land.
My Personal Verdict
Have you ever been to the Nigeria embassy in your country abroad? It is clear that the embassy crew are people that had no knowledge what it means to be an ambassador or their official responsibilities as embassy crew. They are always looking like confused individuals. They are incompetent and most times sleeping on duties
Though due to Nigerian factor, the crew at the embassies have probably bribed their way to the position or just a politcal appointees. These are bunch of incompetent individuals. What is Ojo Madueke finding at the Canadian Embassy in Canada? Some ambassadors can't even read without stuttering.
The only time you see the Nigeria embassy at their best is during Nigeria independence party, October 1st, the whole year round is just people with no official responsibilities.
Nigerians abroad are not happy with their embassies. They are pains to Nigerians, they have nothing to offer. It is better Nigeria government create some committee to check into work done by the embassies and anyone with less than 55% duties should be closed down. It is high time we start managing resources and that might be closing down some embassies, or we employ well competent people.
The embassies i had mentioned above are just a waste of Nigeria resources and have nothing to offer Nigerians in diaspora. We hope the government can look into their case.
Micheal Odogwu, for Doy News