TheCable

BY LAWAL IDRIS YUSUF

I had repeatedly seen online videos of Nigerians embittered by their experience at Nigerian embassies and high commissions abroad and never really appreciated the frustrations and difficulties they went through to access services meant to be readily available to bona fide citizens of Nigeria. Unfortunately, this is the reality of many Nigerians and the sad nature of the services on offer at these places that ought to represent the best of Nigeria abroad.

From the entrance of the Nigeria High Commission London where I had attended to renew my passport in August recently, you could see the security personnel speaking to the arriving applicants in very rude language and in an unprofessional manner that is alien to every British establishment I have visited.  They appear so unwelcoming and intimidating to the often anxious persons who have managed to make it on time to the High Commission from various cities across the UK that you might feel you’ve committed an offence by being a Nigerian. This attitude is of course familiar within Nigeria but I won’t have thought it would be brought to a foreign country in its ugliest form.

The lobby for applicants waiting to submit their application documents is filled beyond capacity and so rowdy that you will feel you’ve just entered Oshodi Market. No doubt, Nigerians are many in the UK. However, the dungeon being provided as the reception hall is not befitting for the country’s public image. The toilets are very dirty, poorly maintained and had no hand dryers. It was an eyesore and an embarrassment for me knowing that there are so many non-Nigerians who would have visited the place in order to obtain travel documents.

A few of the staff were quite well-mannered and polite in how they engaged with the clients – sometimes getting up from their seats to help show people where to attend the next stage of the application process. I was able to quickly obtain my tally and begin what would be a long 4 hours wait to complete my biometric data capture.

Initially, the process seemed to be going on smoothly and the assigned tally numbers were being called on a first-come-first-served basis. You could see the detached countenance of many of the staff attending to clients. The lady whom submitted my documents to only managed to mutter the following words to me: “your passport”. She did not think it was necessary to reply my greeting and the encounter was devoid of eye contact, and no courtesy. After picking out the documents she wanted, she handed over the rest to me without saying anything. And when I asked, what next, she said “Just wait, they will call your number.”

However, the entire process later became erratic and less frequent, with most of the staff away from their desks until no one was being asked to go for the biometric capture. None of the staff bothered to communicate with the rest of us waiting for our tally numbers to be announced or displayed as to why there was a sudden delay. We waited for about 2 hours before the process was recommenced.

I eventually managed to submit my documents. Being that I was living in a city that was 5 hours away from London, I had requested to have my new passport sent to me via secure postal delivery. Unfortunately, this was going to be a difficult and frustratingly long wait which was made worse by the fact that no information was obtainable from the High Commission. The phone number provided on the Nigeria High Commission website for public enquiry is never answered. Their line has been set to redirect callers to the appropriate line according to the query and is charged at 10 pence per minute (i.e. About 56 Naira per min). I also kept checking online to track the mail and waited for about 6 weeks when I decided it might be better to go back to London and get to find out what’s going on.

Without any apologies for the inconvenience and delays, I was informed that the passport was not ready and that they could not tell when I would receive it. They noted that information about the readiness of the passport based on collection dates would be published on their website when due and as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the information provided on this website lacks clarity and does not offer the right answers to questions that client may have. This entirely convoluted, slow and inefficient process I have described so far is despite having paid for the passport and an additional fee of £20 made payable to the Commission. I think the quality of service on offer is poor and unacceptable. We expect that the Nigeria High Commission London will be setting high standards and example for other Nigerian institutions to follow.

It is evident that the High Commission is struggling to cope with the demands of running both consular services and its diplomatic mandate and should look to review how best it can serve Nigerians efficiently and in good time. The delays I experienced in renewing my  international passport did cause me a lot of inconvenience such that I was unable to attend a research conference in Atlanta, USA. As a suggestion, it is not essential that the High Commission run the biometric data capture services. This can be contracted out to the British Post Office that already runs a remarkably efficient biometric data capture services for drivers’ licensing and visa applications. By using the extensive network of post office branches, Nigerians can avoid the extra difficulties and loss in earnings from having to attend the High Commission just to have their biometric details taken.

I believe in Nigeria and the ingenuity of my fellow Nigerians. And it is for this reason I have written this article so that every person in position of responsibility to act on this can get a heads-up. I sincerely wish Nigeria well.