THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
The Embassy of Nigeria in Germany has issued a public notice calling on people dealing with the Embassy to report any officials or other persons who demand bribes or any other illegitimate gratifications from them.
The Notice, dated 17 November 2020, reads:
“The general public is hereby informed to report cases of persons soliciting for money or any form of gratification in favour of issuance of passport/visa or any other services to info@nigeriaembassygermany.org addressed to the Ambassador.”
Stories of bribe taking by the Embassy’s local staff or persons posing as agents to officials working at the diplomatic mission have been flying around for several years. However, none of the victims has officially complained to the Embassy, which has always denied that its officials were corrupt. The video evidence has obviously forced it to act by publishing the latest notice.
However, some Nigerians have criticised the reaction of the Embassy as inadequate. “Asking people to report corruption through an email that the embassy normally uses for general purposes doesn’t sound serious,” an official of a Nigerian association, who would not like to be named in this report, said on a community WhatsApp forum. “They need a dedicated email and WhatsApp number, accessible only to the person charged with taking complaints. Complainants also need to be assured of the protection of their identity and that they need not fear any reprisals,” he said.
To be fair, a principal official of the Embassy had last year charged Nigerians with complaints of extortion to come forward. The appeal was made by Alhaji Mohammed Bello Musa Anka, Minister in charge of the Consular & Immigration Section, while speaking in Dortmund at the annual general meeting of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Germany.
“Nobody should take money from you,” he had said. “If anybody demands for money for anything, it’s wrong. And we must stop it.”
The diplomat even called on Nigerians to resist any attempts to make them pay money for whatever services at the Embassy. “If anybody demands money from you, call us to inform us. We will punish anybody found guilty of taking money from people,” Mr Anka had assured.
Meanwhile, the Embassy has announced on its website that it’s currently experiencing a shortage of passport booklets.
The Notification sent out by the Passport section, reads:
“This is to inform the general public that due to temporary shortage of booklets, it is not possible to issue the passport the same day. From Monday, 23rd November, 2020 the Embassy will not be able to process applications beyond capturing.
“Note, this is only a temporary situation which will change as soon as booklets are available.
“Thank you very much for your cooperation.”
Nigerians are currently experiencing difficulties in renewing their passport as appointments are difficult to obtain. This is causing those affected extreme hardship, including having to stop working because their residence permits have been rendered invalid. The Embassy has repeatedly assured it’s working hard to clear the backlog of appointments, which it attributes to the shutdown of the chancery early in the year due to the coronavirus pandemic, and restore normal, timely service delivery.
Sola Jolaoso
