Travel

Nigeria: The Mumu Travel Population

Published

4 years ago

August 14, 2020

I have written a lot about how Nigerians are being treated outside our shores by airport immigration, hotels, tour companies, etc, and the feeling of helplessness by us and our ‘governments’. There has also been a lot of responses, the summary being our bad PR , how our ‘notoriety’ precedes us, and how there is nothing much we can do because we have been wrongly tagged. My thought: we can reciprocate the gestures to the nationals of these erring countries when they come, tit for tat. That is usually the best revenge in international politics, and in this case. Make no mistake, they are here to make money, and regardless of how you treat them, they will still come. Nigerians are great people and the few bad eggs that are also available in other nations should not affect us this much.

Above is not the reason I am writing this piece. This write up is about how we are being slapped in our ‘backyard’ and we have become a ‘Mumu Travel Population’ MTP in our struggle to get out of our perceived trap of a country. These ranges from immigration firms in Canada who knew from onset their client will never pass the test of English but collects heavy money. The United State Embassy who makes hundreds of millions every day denying visa with glee, the Shenghen countries who ask you to buy travel insurance you cannot get your money back when denied, the VFS (Visa application handling firm) who charges you more than the visa fees as an administrative fee, make you pay cash and somehow they repatriates all the funds without traces back to India.

This is not to mention the many trapped school fees abroad running into billions, as owners are not able to get a visa. If you are in my industry, you could breathe too deeply and pass away!
I am going to discuss the above travel scams in no particular order. If the United State Embassy in Lagos and Abuja handle five thousand application per day, and I tell you they knowingly deny up to 90 percent applicants without any reason- individuals, families, colleagues etc (I agree they hold the rights to issue a visa or not to issue), they would be making two hundred and seventy million Naira (N270,000,000) per day, multiply that by a number of working days in a year and your calculator will show E! This cash flow is more than enough to fund the US embassies, and they can repatriate some huge cash back home. The fact that they do not give applicants any reason for not giving visa is showing their hands, they just ask you to reapply and give you hope. Some people in their desperation have applied over seven times (money enough to start a business), before bowing to faith. If our government understands how much is leaving our economy through this pipeline, there should be something they can do about it.

Why is it that the European countries do not prefer you buy travel insurance on issuance of visa, which then must be sighted at the port of entry? There is a free approximately five thousand naira per person insurance scam going on. Across Nigeria, at least twenty five thousand applicants buy this Insurance everyday for the different European visa application, meaning that we spend about one hundred and twenty five million (N125,000,000) on insurance daily we may never use. The European insurance companies sit pretty and collect free money, who does that! Okay, their Nigerian counterparts make some parts of that too. Can we reciprocate that and help our own insurance sector boom, because huge number of people get in here daily too!
In the mix is the VFS, the Indian application handling merchant, who cries more than the bereaved. If they handle fifty thousand applications per week with their service charges which is over twenty three thousand per person, it means that they are coasting home weekly with this figure N1,150,000,000, insane isn’t! Please kindly help use your calculator too! They smile and insists on collecting cash every day, how do we tax this correctly? How do we make sure this kind of companies don’t just repatriate all these cash, do they do CSR?
I am not going to help you add how much is leaving the pockets of Nigerians daily in our bid to travel abroad, either to escape or for genuine business or vacation. The underlined fact here is ‘these people’ have tapped into a mumu travelling nation whose population don’t care how much they pay to get out and the governments even careless.

About half of these huge funds could stay back in Nigeria if people who travel abroad decide at least in once in five years to try places in Nigeria. It is easy to quickly deceive ourselves to go into the rhetoric of tourism sites are not well maintained. It is a lie! We don’t like consuming anything from Nigeria until it becomes a fad. Remember the hay days of Obudu and Calabar, yes they were run down finally by the ineptness of a new government. Why will people go to Safari in Kenya and refuse to go to Yankari in Bauchi? We all know not many Nigerians will gleefully post their local holiday on social media!
So this write up does not degenerate to ranting, it is high time we attract people to come to Nigeria, just the way we are. They are interested more in our culture and nature and let us sell that. Effectively I have been able to do this with my modest company, maybe with not too much success. We have hotels (a bit overpriced), we have transport companies (bit pricey too), and we have great places they can visit. The Nigeria Tourism Board needs to start talking to travel agents worldwide and linking them up with their Nigerian counterpart to sell destination Nigeria. Other countries have done that with Nigerian travel agents successfully. The black history months to African American, Cubans, Brazilians is a great window, not to mention our many festivals.

Hopefully, this should re awaken Nigerians that they can holiday in Nigeria especially when they start seeing Caucasians too, since they set agenda for us. I look forward to a day, we will keep our funds here, and all these sharks will no longer fish on us as a people and as a country.

Hafees Keshinro is the founder of Butterfly Tourism Nigeria

www.butterflytourismng.com

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Politics

Nigerians Are Banned From 2022 US Visa Lottery – US Government

Published

4 years ago

October 16, 2020

Ifeoluwa Oseni

Nigerians have been banned from participating in the US Visa Lottery for 2022 by the United States government. This was contained in a document, ‘Instructions for the 2022 diversity immigrant visa program (dv-2022)’ obtained from the US Department of States website on Thursday, October 15, 2020, that can be accessed by reading the 19 page document by clicking here.

The reason given was that because more than 50,000 natives of Nigerians have immigrated to the United States in the previous five years and for DV-2022, persons born in Nigeria is not eligible to apply for the US Visa Lottery for 2022. Other countries affected by the ban apart from Nigeria are Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (including Hong KongSAR), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.

It should be noted that the only African country affected by the ban is Nigeria. This might also affect foreigners born in Nigeria as well since the document states that persons born in the following countries are not eligible to apply with Nigeria being among the listed countries.

Travel

Nigeria Lifts International Flight Restriction After Barring Several International Airlines From Airspace

Published

4 years ago

September 7, 2020

Ifeoluwa Oseni

The Nigerian Government had earlier postponed the resumption of international flights earlier scheduled for August 29th to September 5th. On Saturday, September 5, 2020, there was joy as the first international, non-essential passenger flight landed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, for the first time in over three months. The Middle East Airline (MEA) was the first international flight to land anywhere in Nigeria after the international flight restrictions had been lifted earlier, taking off from Lebanon. President Buhari had in March 2020 suspended international flights due to COVID-19.

Earlier, the Nigerian government had released the list of international airlines denied approval to operate in the country. The Aviation Minister listed some airlines that were denied entry into Nigeria. They include Air France, KLM, Etihad, Rwandair, Lufthansa, TAAG Angola Airlines, Air Namibia, and Royal Air Maroc.

Out of the 10 airlines barred from flying into Nigeria, some like Air Namibia was barred because the country of origin of the airline has not resumed international flights or because there were was no COVID-19 Health Protocols yet for the country. The Aviation Minister gave the reason Airfrance and Lufthansa were not approved was that Swiss visa owners are not allowed entry and the same reason applied to KLM. The aviation minister also noted that passengers who fail to present a valid COVID-19 test or refuse to go for a repeat test may be placed on a travel watch list for six months. The Nigerian government had in August 2020 vowed to implement a reciprocity clause by banning flights and airlines from countries that had put similar bans on flights from Nigeria as nations open their airspace amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The aviation minister said only approved airlines will be allowed into the country’s airspace.

Approved Airlines In Nigeria

Some approved international airlines that have been given approvals to operate within the COVID-19 protocols in Nigeria include Middle-East, British Airways, Delta Airlines, Qatar Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, Egyptair, Air Peace, Virgin Atlantic, Asky, Africa World Airways (AWA), Air Cote-d’Ivoire, Kenya Airways, Emirate, and Turkish airlines.

Airlines permitted into the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja include British Airways, Emirates, Ethiopian, AWA, and Middle East Airlines while Egyptair, Virgin Atlantic, Turkish Airlines, AWA, Kenya Airways and Middle East Airlines airlines are allowed to operate at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

Criteria used in approving or denying operation of the airlines include

Foreign carrier operator permit: This is a requirement by the law
Guidelines by COVID-19 Presidential Task Force
Other guidelines including restrictions that came from other countries that will affect Nigeria operations in Nigeria.

Q & A

How to Book Appointment At American Embassy In Nigeria 2020

Published

4 years ago

September 2, 2020

Ifeoluwa Oseni

The United States of America is a popular destination for Nigerians. Many people want to visit this powerful western nation. The United States of America is a world power with a thriving economy. Booking of an American visa appointment is done online. You can not enter the United States of America if you are not a citizen or the Queen without an American visa. You need to obtain a visa whether it is a visa for temporal stay or visa or for permanent residence to stay in the country legitimately. Note that having an American visa does not guarantee entry into the U.S. The American visa allows a foreign citizen coming from abroad, to travel to the United States port-of-entry and request permission to enter the U.S.

As an applicant for the American visa, you have to appear in person in Abuja, or the consulate general in Lagos. There are two ways you can book for your appointment at the American embassy. This can be done either through the call centre or via online application.

Booking American Appointment Online

Visit this link https://cgifederal.secure.force.com/language=English&country=Nigeria to register an account or log in to your account as the case may be.
Create a profile by filling in a valid email address, your last name, first name, create a password, and correctly filling the characters in the box provided below to create an account.
Note that the U.S. Consulate General Lagos schedules all IR3/IR4 (adoption) cases directly with the applicants after the Consulate receives cases and completes required prescreening. IR3/IR4 cases cannot be scheduled for an interview using this online platform. If you schedule an IR3/IR4 (adoption) interview on this platform, you will be turned away on the day of the interview. Immigrant documents can only be picked up from the Victoria Island location in Lagos. Applicants will be notified by email and SMS when their documents are ready for pickup for those applying for an immigration visa.
Ensure you have completed your DS-160 form and have uploaded the correct photo specification. Applicants who enter invalid DS-160 codes will not be interviewed. Please visit http://www.ustraveldocs.com/ng/ng-niv-visaapply.asp and follow the guidelines stipulated for visa application for those applying for a non-immigration visa.
For immigration visa, you then select the visa category that applies to you All Immigrant Visas, Boarding Foil, K1 Visa (Fiancee), Returning Residents, select Visa code, and continue until you have booked your appointment.
For a non-immigration visa, you can select the post where you would like to schedule an appointment between Lagos and Abuja and continue the process till you have booked an appointment.

Booking American Appointment Using The Call Centre

You can also contact the American embassy with the lines listed down below. When you place a call, one of the visa application services call centre agents would be able to assist you with booking an appointment. For Callers in Nigeria, they can call +23412278955 while callers in the United States of America cal call +17035202575

Restrictions To Changing Appointments

Individuals that have already booked for an appointment are limited to the number of times they can reschedule their appointments. As stated on the site, all fees paid are non-refundable. You will have to pay again when you book for an appointment again.

Supporting Documents Needed for the American Visa Interview

When booking for an appointment, you need the following documents.

A travel to America valid passport with a validity date of at least six months before the intended period of stay
Payment receipt for your visa application this should be from GTbank.
Your DS-160 confirmation page document
Your Valid e-mail address and telephone number

Completion of a Medical Examination for the US Visa Appointment

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services want every applicant to complete a medical appointment with an authorized physician in the country where they will attend their interview. An authorized physician is a doctor approved by the US embassy in Nigeria. If you complete your medical check with another doctor not approved, the consular will not accept it as valid.

Some of the things to be examined during your medical examination include your medical history and a copy of your immunization records. You will also be examined physically (eyes, ears, nose and throat, extremities, heart, lungs, abdomen, lymph nodes, skin, and external genitalia).

Things To Note Before Attending US Visa Interview Appointment

Before you attend your interview you need to know the following. The person interviewing you is the consular officer. Your fingerprints will be scanned during the interview. Do not take with you any foods, backpacks, laptops or big bags to the embassy. You have to take very few things with you. Also, endeavour to dress in a simple manner.

Arrival At The U.S. Consulate General Lagos Office

As an attendee to your interview, you need to arrive on time. Sometimes, you might have to wait in a queue, but that does not guarantee late coming. Try to be in the meeting, at least, 10 minutes earlier.

Fingerprint verification

When you enter the entrance of the embassy, you will be taken through the security door. This security door has a full-body metal detector scan. Proceeding, you will receive a token, which you would use for the interview. Finally, your fingerprints would be scanned and you would receive further instructions.

Get Ready For The Interview

After submitting your fingerprint, you will have to wait in the lounge area. Here, you would wait quietly for your turn. Arrange your documents properly, so that you don’t have to mess with your hands when you meet the interviewer. When you will hear your name, you proceed to the interview with all the required documents.