NIGERIA’S diplomatic missions and embassies abroad have a poor culture of responding to enquiries via their online email addresses, as most have inactive email addresses while several others simply ignore mail enquiries, according to checks by The ICIR.
One of the Nigerians who has recently experienced the ineptitude of the Nigerian embassies is Motolani Ogunsanya, the Assistant Professor of Pharmacy at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Centre in the United States
In August 2019, she wanted to book an appointment with the Nigerian embassy in Atalanta, Georgia to renew her passport which she thought would be possible via the official email on the embassy’s website or its hotline. But she was rudely shocked when her email to the embassy was not replied, she said.
She called the embassy repeatedly for two weeks but no one answered at the embassy, except the voice mail messages that said nothing helpful. She confirmed to The ICIR that the passport renewal process eventually took her over three months before she finally got a new one.
“Why do we have to haul our bodies to go renew passports in person? Can’t there be mailing options, especially for those living in the diaspora? Can’t we leverage the use of technology to ease these unnecessary expeditions?” she queried.
Now she dreads her next visit to the Nigerian embassy in Atalanta for renewal of her passport.
Motolani’s frustration is a common experience that many Nigerians in diaspora seeking service of their embassies go through.
The ICIR sent a total of 66 enquiry emails to the official email addresses of 46 Nigerian diplomatic missions and embassies located in US, Germany, China, and several other countries to understand their response to online enquiries.
The email requested specific information about the requirement for passport renewal.
“I am writing to know how long it would take to have my International passport renewed. The passport expires on July 25, 2020. I also would like to know the costs involved in getting a new passport,” the email read.
13 of 46 Nigerian consulates replied
Thirteen of the forty-six Nigerian embassies and high commissions sent a reply to the request of passport renewal which accounts for 28 per cent of the High Commission and embassies that received the enquiry.
The first set of emails was sent on July 6 at 4:43 pm, to Nigerian diplomatic missions in 19 countries, and the consular section of the Nigerian High Commission in Canberra, Australia was the first to respond at 5:06 am after 12 hours and 23 minutes.
“Please find attached the passport renewal process. Please note that you will need to reply to this email with a copy of your payment receipt in order to obtain an appointment for capture. For a standard passport renewal, the cost is usually $106.
“Please also reply to this email with where you will be travelling from in order to attend your passport appointment,” the reply read.
A document was also attached to the email detailing the steps on how to apply for e-passport renewal and book an appointment at the consulate.
The Nigerian embassy in Sweden and the Nigerian High Commission in Ghana, via an automatic electronic message, acknowledged that the emails were received.
Later the Nigerian embassy in Sweden responded in an email dated July 7, at 10:46 am which was after 18 hours and 3 minutes, directing the reporter to fill the online form and make payments on a website listed as www.innovate1services.com to complete the process.
Its counterpart in Austria, Vienna replied from one of its email address after 17 hours and 22 minutes, asking the reporter to fill the online form and submit it in person.
Two days later, 23 hours and 47 minutes the Nigerian embassy in Lisbon, Portugal replied, asking the reporter to take a letter of introduction to the Nigerian embassy in Madrid, Spain as its operations in Lisbon does not involve passport renewal.
On July 7 at 12:46 pm, the enquiry was sent to email addresses in twenty-seven countries where Nigerian embassies and diplomatic missions are domiciled, amongst the first to respond include Senegal, South Africa, Togo, Uganda, Ghana, Brazil and United Arab Emirate, UAE.
However, the Nigerian consulate in Accra, Ghana replied after 1 day, 2 hours and 52 minutes, and Kampala, Uganda sent a reply after 19 hours, 26 minutes.
The shortest time it took a Nigerian foreign mission to reply to the enquiry via email was 49 minutes from the Nigerian embassy in Lome, Togo, followed by the embassy in Dakar, Senegal which sent in a reply after 2 hours 20 minutes, saying they had run out of passport booklets and would let the reporter know when it arrives.
At the time of filing this report, the Nigerian embassy in Senegal is yet to provide further information.
The embassies in Egypt and Ethiopia sent in their reply after 8 days, 56 minutes and 8 days, 6 hours, 37 minutes respectively. The consulate in Egypt said payments should be made on its website while the consulate in Ethiopia asked for the phone contact of the resident.
The Nigerian embassy in Brazil replied after 2 hours and 38 minutes at 6:24 pm of the same day, using the email address admin@nigerianembassy-brazil.org which revealed that the consulate was closed due to COVID-19 pandemic.
On July 7 at 1:06 am, Yvonne Maha, a representative of the embassy in Brazil also sent in a response from the address social.sec@nigerianembassy-brazil.org, informing the reporter the embassy was closed after 9 hours 21 minutes.
The most concise response came from the Nigerian embassy in Abu Dhabi, UAE, at 9:12 am on July 8 after 17 hours 27 minutes, detailing the collection procedure and cost for passport renewal stating that the process would take a month which would involve image acquisition and biometrics at the embassy.
Is Goodluck Jonathan still Nigeria’s President?
When The ICIR examined the websites of the Nigerian embassies, it showed that the websites of some of the consulates have not been updated for over 5 years.
The homepage of the website of the Nigerian embassy in China still carries Aminu Wali, as Minister of foreign affairs who left the position in 2015, and replaced by Geoffrey Onyeama.
Though the homepage had recent information from the publicity department dated 13th, July 2020, that advised visitors on the time the embassy opens and closes, other information posted on the website dates between 2014 to 2017.
Also the picture of former President, Goodluck Jonathan is still a prominent feature on the website after leaving office in 2015.
The Nigeria High Commission in Australia also shared a video of former President Goodluck Jonathan on the sidebar on its homepage, while the announcement for public holidays calling for Eid-Ul-Maulud celebration posted in 2017 sits comfortably on the website.
“The High Commission will reopen for normal business on Monday, 4th December 2017 at 9.00 am,” a section of the post reads.
33 Nigerian consulates have 35 inactive emails
Fifty-three per cent of the emails sent to 66 addresses accounting for 35 email addresses as announced by the mail delivery subsystem were “inactive”.
The only email address belonging to the Nigeria High Commission in the United Kingdom listed on its website for immigration purposes in the UK returned “Not found”.
“Address not found your message wasn’t delivered to immigrationservices@nigeriahc.org.uk because the domain immigrationservices@nigeriahc.org.uk couldn’t be found,” was the message received from the email address of the High Commission in the UK
In fact, the Commission does not have an official email address on its website to direct enquiries but a contact form requesting visitors to the website to fill the form for their enquiries.
This was a familiar reply as 27 enquiry emails dispatched was reverted, indicating their intended addresses could not be reached.
The Nigerian embassy in the United States, US, did not acknowledge the email sent to info@nigeriaembassyusa.org, which was listed on its website as the official email address for enquiries and clarifications from the consulate.
Its official Twitter handle was last updated in 2009 after a single tweet announcing the availability of machine-readable passport booklets since it joined the community in April 2009.
The email address info@nigeriaembassygermany.org, belonging to the Nigerian embassy in Germany returned mailer daemons which means that the email address may no longer be valid or have a routing problem on the main server.
Others with inactive emails include Nigerian embassies in Austria(info@embassyofnigeriaprague.org), Kuwait(nigeriankuwait@yahoo.co.uk), Mexico(nigembmx@att.net.mx), Israel(embnigtlv@attglobal.net),Zimbabwe(nigerianharare@gmail.com), Singapore(admin@nigeriahcsinga.org.sg), Malaysia(info@nigeria.org.my), and Liberia(nigeriamonrovia@yahoo.com)
There were no replies from the Nigerian embassies in Ireland, Turkey, Japan, Belgium, Spain, Cameroun, Namibia, Morroco, Rwanda and Russia.
Six enquiry emails sent to the Nigerian consulates in China(nigeria.beiging@mfa.gov.ng), India(office@nigeriahcindia.com) and Philippines(embassy@nigeriamanila.org) returned as “delivery incomplete” while six Nigerian embassies in Turkey, Belgium, Japan, France and Russia failed to provide a reply to the enquiry.
What Nigeria might lose from embassy delays
Nigeria ranks 131 out of 190 countries based on data obtained from the 2020 World Bank Ease of Doing Business Index, one of the indicators considered is the time taken to eliminate or reduce barriers on the country’s borders.
Based on The ICIR analysis, the average time it takes a Nigerian consulate to reply to an email enquiry is 1 day, 18 hours, 39 minutes.
However, simplified immigration procedures could encourage faster issuance of visas and passports at all port entries, which would encourage investments from Nigerian abroad.
According to Price Waterhouse Cooper’s, PWC, 2018 report estimates that Nigeria’s remittances from migrants in 2018 amount to $25 billion accounted for 83 per cent of the country’s budget for 2018 and was 11 times more than the Foreign Direct Investment, FDI, for the same year.
The remittances include cash and non-cash items through electronic transfers or goods carried across borders which the report identified that 70 per cent of the remittances are mostly used for consumption purposes and 30 per cent into investment-related uses.
When The ICIR reached out to Ferdinand Nwoye, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs he said the ICT division of the Ministry would be able to respond to enquiries on email responses from Nigerian embassies abroad.
“I don’t have any answer to why Nigerian embassies don’t usually respond to emails but I will contact the Director of ICT at the Ministry and get back to you,” he said.
As at the time of filing this report, the reporter has not got a reply from him.
