Nigerian Immigration Service (My Passport Re-issue experience)

Hello there, it's been a very long while I know. Nothing deliberate but just how the times feel... but hey you can still find interesting articles here if you scan through and I get comments you leave on here so drop one. Thanks!

So yesterday I went to the passport office at Alausa to complete the application process of my passport reissue which I had started on their website: https://portal.immigration.gov.ng/

I went along with my two children (theirs also expired) who had to miss an entire day of school for this purpose. We got there as early as possible before 8am. We waited under the canopy provided. Soon after we were seated we started hearing worship songs and clapping from one of the office close to us. My son asked if the office was a church. I responded that it was in fact an office and such religious activities were prohibited. I explained to him that many Nigerian offices had a lot of these religious folks who try to extort others and make simple processes difficult. I mentally geared myself up for the long day ahead. It’s been a while that I have had any reason to come to a ‘government’ office.

By 9.00am an officer came to address us. He stated that they officially start at 9. He stated the rules and regulations guiding data capture and passport processing. Afterwards another officer came to call off names of those to proceed to the data capture room from some files. I politely asked an officer who I should approach concerning my application which I had completed online. He directed me to a mallam (in Dogonriga) who subsequently took me to his ‘brother’s desk.  I suspect the mallam is an officer who is not dressed in uniform.This brother will from hereon be my helping officer. Note the word ‘help’. He is the one God used to solve my problem of Nigerian passport application. Note the word ‘problem’ too. They are two very important words when you go to a government office. I showed him my printed documents, he then asked me to ‘talk’ to him. I feigned ignorance of what he wanted. My first mistake. He called a business centre lady on the phone that came and after a few explanations of what is required he asked that I follow the lady. So off we went to the business centre, the next compound to the passport office. The lady ‘assisted’ with files, photocopying, application forms and application letters. I paid more than normal for these services. 

We went back to the man who checked the files and then proceeded to the oga’s office. We followed. The oga checked the documents and signed on them. Then he told us to take the files upstairs for another signature. We did. We came back to the ‘helping officer’. He told us to go sit outside and wait to be called. I gave him some token because the spirit of the office was already ministering to me and I wanted to achieve the purpose for which I had come in good time. Shortly afterwards, he came to call us. While we waited, there was no designated process for knowing when it’s your turn. Different ‘helping’ officers appeared to call their helpee’s names. We went in and joined the queue for the data capture. My children’s data were captured but when it was my turn, my payment could not be verified. I was told to stand aside and retry only for the same thing to show on the system. This took like an hr more. My daughter asked me why my own data could not be captured. I explain mildly to her that the officers wanted me to pay money which I was not really ready to pay (and didn’t have much of at the time). She asked whether I had not paid for the process and I told her I did pay for all three of us on the same day. She was befuddled and I could see her frustration. I tried to hide my own frustrations from her. I quickly gave myself brain and went to my helping officer to complain. He explained that because I paid online there was a need to unify all the payments in their own accounts office and so it was possible that mine wasn’t yet unified. I nodded and begged him to please help me. Y’see I work in a small establishment and had to take a day off to come here so I didn’t want to come back for the same purpose another day. So I had to beg him. In the past I would have created a scene and shouted but I no longer have that kind of energy for Nigeria. I have come to discover that you can’t save a chronically ill person who is not even willing to be saved. By some miracles, when my helping officer came back, my payment was verified and I was able to capture my data. All glory be to my helping officer!

Then came the date for collection of the passport, the last hurdle and he explained the process to me. If I was willing to follow the ‘normal’ process it would take about 3 wks but if I need them earlier then I will need to pay a certain sum he said. I needed my own passport for some work references so I told him 3 wks was too long. I had to go to a nearby ATM to get the money so I can get this over with. I had spent all the money I had on me at this point. By now it was about 2pm.

Y’see, as one grows older and hopefully wiser, you begin to assess if you are expending energy in the right ventures or simply wasting it. I consider myself sane and commonsensical so I no longer dispense energy in fighting corruption within the Nigerian structures (I want to remain sane for a long time for the sake of my children and family members and friends). The corruption is too deep that it consumes even the most upright persons. I now channel my energy to demand the right structures, more manageable ones. Regional autonomy, true fiscal federalism. Remember, I have to pay N145 for a litre of fuel because Nigeria is broke.

 A Facebook friend, Olanike Onyekachi Adexa shared the story of her traumatizing and dehumanizing experience in the hands of the Immigration officers at Abeokuta office. She paid 28k and was still harrassed on top. The official rate for the passport is 17600 on the immigration site.

The 17600 is broken down into
          Passport application: N15000

         Address verification Charges: N2000 (I wonder if any official ever go to verify the address on the application)

         Service Charges N600

Olanike's mistake was that she was asking too many questions and was acting stubborn because she wanted to renew her Nigerian passport. Nigeria has broken me, e jo.  I don’t have power for Nigeria anymore. I won’t protest fuel subsidy removal or deregulation or join to fight corruption. I will however channel the remaining energy in me to demand for regional autonomy and true federalism.

I recall the line in Fela's Power Show:

               Dem go bluff you
               Waste your time
               Run you up
               And then run you down
               Dem go tire your body
              And then tire your mind
              And them tire your whole mind

If you refuse to comply with their exorbitant demands, you must pay with a total waste of your time (they have no value for it and will collect salaries whether or not they attend to you) and mental energy. They will mock you because you are mumu whose crime is that you want to follow due process.

Although technology has been employed (website and payment portal) in many of these Nigerian government services, it has been reduced largely to manual files. And if you do not cooperate, your file will get missing or unattended. There is no way to know the status of your application via the site.This manual process will ensure that you are stripped of your money, dignity and confidence. This same process is what you will face in NNPC, DPR, PPPRA, NipeX, CBN, NAFDAC etc.

The real situation remains what it is regardless of our many social media rants and articles. These government officials are unmoved. They have ogas at the top who will give media interviews to tell of the ‘great’ work their men do. You will just  be left to wonder when you consider your own experiences. New intakes to such offices quickly learn the ropes and even devise better strategies at extorting their customers than their older colleagues.

I am sane, my conscience is still intact but I am growing older and will need to better account for the use of my time and energy. If an OND or SSCE certificate holder is able to make me do what they want in Nigeria with all my BSCs and Post Graduate degrees then I should not fight them because the structure empowered them so. I no longer feel I have the luxury of time to try to fight this system. If I lose my work now, the government will not even pay me 5k for welfare. So I have to borrow myself brain. If with all my education and experience I still pursue something which continues to elude me, I must be a big fool.
#CommonSense
#RegionalAutonomy

#TrueFederalism
#ReformedConstitution

 

The Desire and the Sacrifice (of our generation)

(Desire-Plan-Execute-Actualize strategy to achieving a goal)

Oh God of Creation

Direct our noble cause

Guide our leaders right

Help our youths the truth to know

In love and honesty to grow

And living just and true

Great lofty heights attain

To build a nation where peace and justice shall reign

That is the 2^nd stanza of our national anthem. It’s a wonderful prayer that have been written in many social studies texts, read on many school assembly grounds and the words have been neatly tucked away in government literatures and history books since the ‘60’s. I believe God of creation is well and alive ever since and will yet be tomorrow and ever more but many generations have come and gone and even our own generation has come and will go, but as long as Nigeria remains one entity, this anthem will continue to be sung. There is a part of scripture which says “the letter (words) kills but the spirit gives life. There is deadness in any letter or words except the spirit quickens the reader to see beyond the letters into the passion, purpose and mindset of what those words carry.

The last part of the stanza read “to build a nation where peace and justice shall reign”. This part is a summary of the desire expressed in the beginning and the middle – a desire of which we beseech God to grant Nigeria. But I really would want us to understand something about desires and realities quite well. Take for example, you desire a car (you do not have one at the time), a particular model (Honda Accord). You have a job but realized that it is not possible within a few months to get one (you do not want to take a loan, more so it is not easily accessible (save for bankers…lol)), so you get the price of the car from a dealer and you were told it would cost N1.2million. Then you sit down with your paper, pen and calculator and decide that in order to realize the dream of the car, you will have to save towards it from your monthly salary. So, you write out your salary and subtract some fixed monthly expenses and try to get as much savings as possible by cutting down on some other expenses which are good but for which the desire for the car has overtaken.

 

Thus you have the plan and you are ready to roll with it. So, let’s say you manage to save N50, 000 every month (the possible savings would depend on the salary range of the individual concerned) , which means you will need to consistently save for 24 months in order to get N1.2million which is the cost of the car. You then begin to save the money while closing your eyes to some things which beckon in the shops and try to turn down some invitations to parties which you know will make you spend unnecessarily or make commitments which you are not just ready for. This period is a big test on your ability to stay true to the plan of achieving the car. It’s a test of how-badly-you-want the car. If you are faithful to the plan, at the end of the day, you will be able to write a cheque to the dealer and have your car delivered to your house. All the necessary documents transferring the ownership to you will be provided and the car will now legally be yours. You will be proud and happy, won’t u. Oh I will!

This sort of desire-plan-execute-actualize method of achieving a goal is applicable to any goal be it building a house, setting up a business, taking the business to a higher level, getting an education or nation building. I will quickly add that in the car example made earlier, there might be unplanned events within one, two or three months that might affect the fulfillment of the savings for those months. So, this should come into the plan. It’s a probability but it may or may not happen. This possibility should be worked into the plan to ensure that the nothing stands in the way of the desire to own the Honda Accord.

This analogy can be brought to bear on our desire to build a nation where peace and justice shall reign. So let’s just fit this together in comparison:

Desire (compared with Honda Accord) is “to build a nation where peace and justice shall reign”

Plan ….do we have a plan as a people to achieve this desire? There is none whatsoever (or maybe I don't know about it).

In all these years we have this desire but we never came up with a plan like when we desired to buy a car or build a house or marry our sweethearts. A desire is not wishful thinking. We need to know how much national peace and justice will cost. Since we can’t put a price to it, we then need to list a few things that can make it happen. The difference between the car example and national desire is that the first one involves one person but the latter one involves a whole lot of people with various backgrounds – ethnic, religious, tribal, beliefs, etc. In order for peace to happen, there has to be a large number of citizens empowered and enlightened about this desire  and the benefits – security, tranquility of mind in plenty or in want, faith as opposed to fear, concentration of body, soul and spirit. In obtaining justice, a key requirement is that leadership is gotten right and the people understand what justice means (not selective or partial). The truth of the matter is that the situation in Nigeria at this point in time is not that of celebration, frivolities and parties but that of sacrifices and sweats which are required to lay the foundation required to make every other desire achievable. I am in no way saying you have no right to enjoy what you have worked hard for but how easy is it to “really enjoy” in an atmosphere of uncertainties and insecurities as we have had in Nigeria in recent years? Would you not rather want to work hard and spend your money however you want without fear or favour? I very much would like that but I am realistic, Nigeria is not safe. Many live in fear of one thing or the other.

When I became a mother, I began to understand what living sacrificially means. A mother gives up some certain privileges just so that the children can be well provided, nurtured and catered for. I understood this also when I visited a friend when she had her first child. She told me how she has started thinking ahead of what she will need to cut down in order to have more time and resources for her little one. She told me how much she appreciated her own mum and other mothers more. This act of sacrificing goes on until the child is able to physically take care of self but goes on even in the aspect of emotional, spiritual and moral guidance, growth and development.

If as a young mother, I look at an older woman whose children are all grown and thriving and I try to do what she does, what do you think will happen? My little child (ren) will suffer as I will not be paying the special kind of attention and care required on infants/toddlers. I have drawn this analogy to help us see what our situation in Nigeria is. We are a young mother (developing nation) who is trying to envy older mothers (developed nations) whose children are fully grown. We want to party, dress like, eat like, speak like, and have abandoned fun like the older woman without considering the huge responsibility of nurturing our child (ren) to a level of independence and later on of inter-dependence. Such a well trained child will make us happy and proud as older mothers.

But so many young Nigerians do not quite understand this position and are unwilling to make the sacrifice that is required to nurture the young Nigeria which at the moment is even very sickly and on the deathbed. This sickness is due to lack of care by the older generation of mothers, fathers and caregivers. They abandoned the sick child and went a-frolicking with the child’s inheritance while the child lay dying on the bed. We need to understand that in order to build a nation where peace and justice shall reign (these two values are requirements for success and prosperity), we need to make some sacrifices of time and resources as much as lies in our power. When there is peace, there will be security of lives and properties, young men and women will have adequate peaceful mindsets required to bring our their innate creative energies, corruption will be unnecessary and will be a taboo (frowned on by everyone in the society) and it will not be required to waste endless amounts of public resources and time to fight it. Such resources would well be channeled into providing better infrastructures for the citizenry. The health sectors will be well equipped to care for the people to ensure the well being and wholeness which is necessary for one to contribute one’s best to one’s society. Also, contracts for road construction and maintenance will be awarded to companies which have demonstrated competence and consistent quality in previous works. There will be a means of checking the quality of such works. The level of commitment in every individual will be such that is responsive to others within the community they are. There will be deep understanding of the connection between the quality of work done and the lives of our people by everyone – contractors, government officials, public workers, private workers, market women, security personnel, school boys and girls and just about everyone in the nation.

How badly do we want change? What are we willing to sacrifice for it? I have heard many of my colleagues, friends, neighbours, relatives express a desire for a better society but many will not even leave their comfort to register to vote in an election (which holds once in every four years!) talk less of voting. Such people will see people who are clamouring for “occupy Nigeria” as fools who don’t love their lives yet they will say with their mouths they want change so much. Many young persons will accept bribes yet complain of corruption in government offices. Many young people will close their mouths tight when issues that affect EVERY Nigerian are being discussed. Some think to themselves “babes don’t get involved in such issue” or “real guys go to clubs, parties, hang outs and generally have fun”, yet the roads to the clubs are filled with holes many of their friends have lost their lives on them. Some have been robbed while coming from such places in the night. Some female bankers have been traumatized by incidents of robbery in the banks they work in (one such event happened last week in Sagamu involving three banks – Skye, GTB and Diamond banks) yet they go about their banking business the very next week (the banks are still under lock and key as at the time of publishing this post) still doing “babe” and thinking to themselves “God help us” and “let others (the men and other willing women) handle the issues”. Well, I’m sorry this is everyone’s business this time. The banks and other organizations where you and I work are located right here in Nigeria where the security issues are prevailing every single day. There is no protective covering for anyone as long as you are in this country; we are all in this boat together.

Many emerging young middle class individuals now think to themselves “once I’m able to build my mansion in Lekki (or any high-brow area in any city), I’m free from the ills of this society”. You wish….., that’s self deceit and living in self denial. What if they actively join in campaigning against bad leaderships (except they themselves and their families are the bad leaders in the first place)? What if they join in empowering other less privileged Nigerians through sponsoring through school or helping to rehabilitate some infrastructures which make learning and life conducive for such people? What if they form town hall meetings where they seek out practical ways of impacting other lives apart from their own (not of their neighbours who already have as much as they do)? What if…..? There are so many what ifs that we can all ask in order to pursue the desire for a better nation. These will form part of the plan to achieving the vision “to build a nation where peace and justice shall reign”. This is in line with a popular saying “Know ye not that there cannot  be peace in the hood when thy neighbour hungers? Know ye not that thy neighbour’s peace is thy security?”  This is well understood by the Europeans and the Americans. The problem we contend with in Nigeria requires many people who are aware of the deception (and conspiracy) of the older generation of leaders and who will be willing to spend time and resources to enlighten and educate those around them about it and about the solution. This is part of the plan y’see. If we work dedicatedly towards the next election (2015), we might have been able to save just about enough to secure the desire of peace and justice (in the form of quality and visionary leadership).

The aim of this write-up is to help us to see beyond ourselves and our social, financial, family and sexual status regardless of highly or lowly placed we might be and for us to begin to seek out ways to join in the crusade for a new Nigeria where everyone can be safe enough to enjoy the labour of their hands in peace and tranquility of mind. You can’t afford to be an onlooker, I must say to you. The New Nigeria is possible and the dream will be achieved faster if you join in on the campaign train wherever you are. Remember that God will not come down to save the money for the car, that responsibility is solely yours (the one who needs it).

God bless you and God bless Nigeria!