NIGERIANS, VISAS AND OVERSEAS TRAVEL
A very good pastor was preaching on Sunday and in his prophecies said,
"You will get that visa this week..." Come and see the thunderous
"Amen!!!" that shook the building! Throughout the ministration, he
mentioned how scary embassies are for Nigerians. And I couldn't keep
myself from wondering what the problem really is!
Another scenario: a neighbour of mine recently went for a business
trip to China. He spent about a week or more. When he returned, I
asked how he procured visa for the trip. He said he paid 350k to his
travel agent. Note that this excluded his flight ticket and other
expenses. It was solely for the procurement of travel visa to China!
Hmmm!
I have also encountered a friend and school mate who told me that he
sold the piece of land he inherited from his dad in order to travel
overseas. At that time, I also had this notion that travelling
overseas is the easiest way to make it in life! So, I kept in contact
trying to find my own way of joining him.
My people, I lost interest when he asked me to dump my girlfriend so
that "they" can arrange marriage for me to a girl whom I do not know.
The surprising thing is that the said girl was in Nigeria at the time.
What "they" needed, according to him, was that I get married to the
girl and "they" will prepare documents for us to come over.
Apart from the surprising suggestion that I get married to a total
stranger in order to travel abroad, there was this veiled inference
that we have to pay "them" a thousand pounds when we get over to the
UK.
My brethren, even though I wanted to go abroad then, my own version of
"by all means" was tempered by a cautious cowardice/bravery. I simply
did not think I should mortgage my future (my happiness, my children,
my relationship with my parents, my faith, my everything) in order to
travel overseas.
So I withdrew and gradually, I lost the interest.
My experience is simply minor when compared to the fatalities that the
country has had in this mindless scramble for #visas. A lot our
countrymen, some claiming to be refugees from war-torn countries, lie
in shallow graves all over the Sahara Desert. Others have been eaten
by sea beings around #Lampedusa. Many are languishing in jails all
over the world, some in European brothels (Chika Unigwe's Black
Sisters' Street tells it better), countless others have died and some
on death row in Asian gulags. Yet, embassies in Nigeria continue to be
busier than Balogun market. Check the VFS place at Lobito Crescent,
Abuja or their outposts in Lagos, they have become shopping malls of
sorts, with the accompanying presence of touts, thieves and 419ers.
I don't even want to talk about what the government is doing or not
doing to de-populate these places because when it comes to governance
in this country, I have unrepentantly lost hope in these crop of
politicians who keep recycling themselves in power. I am more
concerned about my people; about what they can do in order not to
become a number in the statistics of casualties.
Number 1: Gain knowledge.
An acquaintance sold all his wares at Onitsha Main Market and
travelled to eastern Europe, claiming to be a Sudanese refugee. But
this guy couldn't mention the capital city of the country he claims to
come from nor could he mention one town there.
There's one thing about oyibo - they often know the answers before
they ask you some questions. This because once they come in contact
with you, they go home and read about your country, culture,
everything they can get about you. I remember a friend asking me once:
"Is it true that Nigerians call used cars 'belgium'?" And we were in
Belgium. How on earth did she get to know that?
It is knowledge that will tell you that if you need a business visa to
China, you go to the Chinese Embassy website to see the documents
required. Knowledge informs you that these so-called agents can
collect your money and give you fake documents which can put you in
trouble. It is knowledge that tells you that if you have genuine
reasons to travel to any country on earth that they can't deny you
visa.
That pastor I talked about at the beginning, came from J'burg. He
later said something very important on Monday morning: "There's no job
in South Africa, in case someone is deceiving you!"
It is lack of adequate information that has turned a lot of innocent
girls into prostitutes in Europe, drug peddlers in Asia and Latin
America as well as labour slaves in the US and other parts of the
world. I insist that for your own safety, if you want to travel
abroad, do have a cogent reason for it. Going there to settle may not
be the best decision of your life! They won't tell you, but it is a
fact that close to 80% (if not more) of Nigerians abroad today, would
want to come back home if given the opportunity. And yet, the
embassies here are clogged with human beings. Why won't they be doing
shakara for us?
Going abroad without any useful, necessary purpose is like going to
any Nigerian city where you know nobody at all. If you doubt me, wake
up one morning and take a trip to Abuja, Calabar, PH, or any other
city where you know nobody. Go with all the money you have and stay
for one year. Let's see how long your sustenance will last and what
you'll become when your money runs out. Remember that overseas, your
certificates won't work and your visitor visa status would make
getting any useful job a mirage.
Number Two: everything falls under what you know!
What do you know about where you are going, the people arranging the
trip for you (they can slip a wrap of hard drug in your luggage),
realities that will accost you and your own future in general? If you
get a 50-year sentence in a Chinese prison, what happens to all your
aspirations and dreams of making it big? If you are buried in the
desert, the sea or shot by border guards, who will then build the
palatial homes and buy exotic cars that you so dreamed about?
Nigeria may have its challenges, but no street is paved with gold even
in the Scandinavia. Greener pastures are everywhere depending on where
you are looking. Dangote, Innoson, and other billionaires of Nigeria
today did not wash plates in British hotels nor did they drive taxis
in the Americas. Today, no country on earth can deny them visas.
Improve yourself. Equip yourself. And love yourself, please. Getting
money isn't everything. Sometimes what we need are God, shelter, food,
clothing, a good family.
"You will get that visa this week..." Come and see the thunderous
"Amen!!!" that shook the building! Throughout the ministration, he
mentioned how scary embassies are for Nigerians. And I couldn't keep
myself from wondering what the problem really is!
Another scenario: a neighbour of mine recently went for a business
trip to China. He spent about a week or more. When he returned, I
asked how he procured visa for the trip. He said he paid 350k to his
travel agent. Note that this excluded his flight ticket and other
expenses. It was solely for the procurement of travel visa to China!
Hmmm!
I have also encountered a friend and school mate who told me that he
sold the piece of land he inherited from his dad in order to travel
overseas. At that time, I also had this notion that travelling
overseas is the easiest way to make it in life! So, I kept in contact
trying to find my own way of joining him.
My people, I lost interest when he asked me to dump my girlfriend so
that "they" can arrange marriage for me to a girl whom I do not know.
The surprising thing is that the said girl was in Nigeria at the time.
What "they" needed, according to him, was that I get married to the
girl and "they" will prepare documents for us to come over.
Apart from the surprising suggestion that I get married to a total
stranger in order to travel abroad, there was this veiled inference
that we have to pay "them" a thousand pounds when we get over to the
UK.
My brethren, even though I wanted to go abroad then, my own version of
"by all means" was tempered by a cautious cowardice/bravery. I simply
did not think I should mortgage my future (my happiness, my children,
my relationship with my parents, my faith, my everything) in order to
travel overseas.
So I withdrew and gradually, I lost the interest.
My experience is simply minor when compared to the fatalities that the
country has had in this mindless scramble for #visas. A lot our
countrymen, some claiming to be refugees from war-torn countries, lie
in shallow graves all over the Sahara Desert. Others have been eaten
by sea beings around #Lampedusa. Many are languishing in jails all
over the world, some in European brothels (Chika Unigwe's Black
Sisters' Street tells it better), countless others have died and some
on death row in Asian gulags. Yet, embassies in Nigeria continue to be
busier than Balogun market. Check the VFS place at Lobito Crescent,
Abuja or their outposts in Lagos, they have become shopping malls of
sorts, with the accompanying presence of touts, thieves and 419ers.
I don't even want to talk about what the government is doing or not
doing to de-populate these places because when it comes to governance
in this country, I have unrepentantly lost hope in these crop of
politicians who keep recycling themselves in power. I am more
concerned about my people; about what they can do in order not to
become a number in the statistics of casualties.
Number 1: Gain knowledge.
An acquaintance sold all his wares at Onitsha Main Market and
travelled to eastern Europe, claiming to be a Sudanese refugee. But
this guy couldn't mention the capital city of the country he claims to
come from nor could he mention one town there.
There's one thing about oyibo - they often know the answers before
they ask you some questions. This because once they come in contact
with you, they go home and read about your country, culture,
everything they can get about you. I remember a friend asking me once:
"Is it true that Nigerians call used cars 'belgium'?" And we were in
Belgium. How on earth did she get to know that?
It is knowledge that will tell you that if you need a business visa to
China, you go to the Chinese Embassy website to see the documents
required. Knowledge informs you that these so-called agents can
collect your money and give you fake documents which can put you in
trouble. It is knowledge that tells you that if you have genuine
reasons to travel to any country on earth that they can't deny you
visa.
That pastor I talked about at the beginning, came from J'burg. He
later said something very important on Monday morning: "There's no job
in South Africa, in case someone is deceiving you!"
It is lack of adequate information that has turned a lot of innocent
girls into prostitutes in Europe, drug peddlers in Asia and Latin
America as well as labour slaves in the US and other parts of the
world. I insist that for your own safety, if you want to travel
abroad, do have a cogent reason for it. Going there to settle may not
be the best decision of your life! They won't tell you, but it is a
fact that close to 80% (if not more) of Nigerians abroad today, would
want to come back home if given the opportunity. And yet, the
embassies here are clogged with human beings. Why won't they be doing
shakara for us?
Going abroad without any useful, necessary purpose is like going to
any Nigerian city where you know nobody at all. If you doubt me, wake
up one morning and take a trip to Abuja, Calabar, PH, or any other
city where you know nobody. Go with all the money you have and stay
for one year. Let's see how long your sustenance will last and what
you'll become when your money runs out. Remember that overseas, your
certificates won't work and your visitor visa status would make
getting any useful job a mirage.
Number Two: everything falls under what you know!
What do you know about where you are going, the people arranging the
trip for you (they can slip a wrap of hard drug in your luggage),
realities that will accost you and your own future in general? If you
get a 50-year sentence in a Chinese prison, what happens to all your
aspirations and dreams of making it big? If you are buried in the
desert, the sea or shot by border guards, who will then build the
palatial homes and buy exotic cars that you so dreamed about?
Nigeria may have its challenges, but no street is paved with gold even
in the Scandinavia. Greener pastures are everywhere depending on where
you are looking. Dangote, Innoson, and other billionaires of Nigeria
today did not wash plates in British hotels nor did they drive taxis
in the Americas. Today, no country on earth can deny them visas.
Improve yourself. Equip yourself. And love yourself, please. Getting
money isn't everything. Sometimes what we need are God, shelter, food,
clothing, a good family.
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