A Nigerian doctor, Addy Olubanji, has taken to Twitter to narrate a humiliating experience she and her family had at the Nigerian Embassy in New York.
In a post shared on Twitter, Addy stated that she went to the Embassy with her family to get their Nigerian passports.
She, however, said that the way they were all treated left her in shock.
Dr. Addy claimed the staff belittled them and treated like they do not matter, and this left her in tears.
She tweeted: “Yesterday, I was at Nigeria House in New York with my family to get our passports.
“If I write about my experience, it will go viral. How they talked us down, treated us like we don’t matter, the inconsistencies in their processes, late arrivals of employees, lack of empathy and I was moved to tears.
“Let it be known that when diasporans try to stay patriotic to our country Nigeria, the systems kept making it difficult for us.
“We shouldn’t have to cry or plan to bribe or know that the system will not work. Why? No, I didn’t call anyone I knew to help me. I wanted to experience this like I didn’t know anyone and I am still in disbelief.
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“Yes I want to write nice things about my country but when things aren’t working, it is also our responsibility to say it. I started asking myself why I wanted to renew this passport and why I wanted it for my child. That’s how much they humiliated us. Someone needs to look into the structures and systems running in our Nigeria embassies around the world, it needs to be looked at.
“Before leaving, I told them if I am pushed I will make sure to bring this to twitter and ensure the government knows what that are doing.”
Some Nigerians have also shared their own nasty experiences at other Nigerian embassies around the world, others mentioned that the Nigerian embassies in Ottawa and Australia are quite efficient in the discharge of their duties.
@imayodejiRN said: “Come to the one in London.. Jesu olugbala, aside the fact you guys will queue on the road side as if you’re there to beg for money. They’ll pack you guys inside a very closed basement as if you’re in kirikiri.. you can guess how the staffs were behaving as if they’re gods.”
@ayoomide commented: “I was in London on Tuesday for my son’s passport. The only snag I see in their arrangement is the fact that you have to queue outside. The queue was orderly, it moved fast and no usual Nigerian mago mago. The people doing the capturing were fast n helpful.
“It was smooth. There was this Edo guy who was cracking jokes. To be honest, the service ‘unNigerian’. The staff were pretty decent.”
@MrSoLso on his part said: “I think you’re exaggerating the experience in London, I renewed my passport seamlessly. Got there 9:30, left @ 1pm and had my passport delivered exactly one week later.”
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“Sister, it’s the same in so many Nigerian embassies around the world. Very unfortunate. Things just gat to change,” @dr_vicexotic reacted.
While @babsfrey also commented and said: “am sorry to hear about your experience. I’ve dealt with Nigeria’s NY embassy thrice, and twice, I had a difficult experience. However, things are quite different at Nigeria’s Embassy in Ottawa.
“The Ottawa office is better organized, except they are difficult to reach via phone, but they do a fairly decent job with the application and passport tracking. I suspect Nigeria needs some benchmarking, standardization and performance tracking across its global footprint.”