My cousin went to get Nigerian passports for her children earlier this week; the children had to take the day off school for the appointment and she had to take the day off work herself. They got there at ¼ to 10am and after sitting idle until about 5.30pm, they called their number and she was told that because she had not printed the form, she had to come back another day! As she can cry for the whole of Nigeria, she burst into tears and her children (5 & 9) seeing mummy upset joined in. They certainly do not want to visit Nigeria now.

Thankfully our aunt who is visiting from Nigeria went with her and she pleaded with one of the officials for mercy typical of what older people would do in Nig (my cousin been new generation or having lived too long in London does not know how to plead, we assume things should work as expected!); anyway, this official in his mercy asked that they be dealt with and finally around 7pm, they had the children’s photos done and application processed.

Please what is the point of doing it all electronically if we need to be printing application forms etc?
1. Can’t they just simply enter the application ID and reference onto their system? Same applies for the need to print proof of payment. I can easily doctor the receipt in Photoshop- though I presume they must do further checks so do not be tempted to do so.
2. Why is it that we need to physically go into the High Commission to get our photo taken when those in Canada, US can make postal application? And since they claim all these passports are issued from Abuja, I can assume the technology is the same.
3. Why should children be taking time off school to attend the place? Or someone living hours away from London need to travel down to attend or do they have offices in places like Scotland?
4. Why can’t they make their requirements crystal clear on their website like their North American counterparts who even provide samples of documents on their website? My cousin showed them a printout of the requirements on their website and it did not include the application form. And in any case, she had the acknowledgement slip which contained exactly the same info as the application form.
5. And why can’t they treat us better especially fellow Nigerians?