Some Nigerians living in the diaspora have alleged and lamented over what they termed ‘Extortion’ by the Nigerian embassy passport renewal.
A Nigerian living in Rome who shared his experience with the Nigerian embassy in Rome described his experience when renewing his passport as shameful and shady.
In his outburst via his Twitter handle @nosafk alleged that officials of the Nigerian embassy in Rome extorted and maltreated him in the process of renewing his passport.
Giving his account, @nosafk narrated that, “My wife needed to renew her Nigerian passport, I paid for 64 pages booklet. I did this because most times if you pay for 32 pages booklet, they will come up with stories like a booklet is not available. And use it to delay your passport. The 64 pages cost more than 32 pages.
“Then I went to the embassy’s website to book the appointment date. There was no appointment. On getting to the website he discovered that there is no appointment till January 2024 while the embassy keeps issuing passports without appointments.”
In his quest to know the reason behind the ‘No appointment’ he noted that he was required to pay an unofficial amount of money apart from the one he has made via the website.
“The amount varies from the person helping you to do it,” he said”
He further shared his wife’s ordeal with the consulate at the embassy which he tagged as racism. He said, even after paying an extra unofficial amount of $137 they required more bribes before the passport could be released.
Corroborating his story, another Twitter user, @Squadrondavid said, “the last time I checked there are no dates for online appointments at the embassy in Dublin till around October next year, however, you are told to come in for an unscheduled appointment for a fee of around €30 Imagine that.”
Also giving his account, A Nigeria who schooled in Uganda, Ayiri Joseph also disclosed how he was asked to pay $150 just to renew his passport.
Simply identified as Stephen, a Nigerian in Germany also decried how some Nigerians lost their jobs in Germany because of the failure of the embassies there to grant them an appointment even when they applied for several months
“Hence you are basically stateless. It also took me a year to get my Nigerian passport renewed in Germany,” Stephen added.
Mr Don, also shared his experience with the Nigeria Embassy in Johannesburg. He said he was asked to drop his phone at the gate after paying the sum of pay R6500 just to renew his passport.