My experiences at work has taught me some valuable lessons in recent times. One of such lessons is that "Nigeria caters to foreigners, while Nigerians are treated as expatriates... Shame! A country where an Ivorian comes and dictates to your Nigerian boss and everyone is expected to fall in line even when the policies been championed are actually zigzag. Well I guess that is a story for another day.

The issue at hand has to do with the official rate at which the dollar is exchanged with the naira. While the official rate is 1 dollar to about 365 - 370 naira, it will interest Nigerians and the world at large to know that while applying for visa to the USA the official Exchange rate is still at 1 dollar to 400 naira. As such a normal tourist visa which goes for about 160dollar becomes 64000. Like you already know this visa fee is paid via GT bank. In other words GT bank is the official bank or partner to the US embassy in Nigeria. You are probably aware that the visa application fee goes up immediately the exchange rate goes up but defies the law of gravity when the dollar crashes. In other words if the dollar exchanges at a higher rate the fee goes up but when the naira gains on the dollar it remains constant while they waits for the dollar to appreciate to increase the visa fee

That brings me to the questions that bother me and maybe you. Who is responsible for regulating how much a visa application fee to the US cost? GT bank or the US embassy? Why has this been allowed to go on for so long without anybody questioning this glaring exploitation of Nigerians? Is this what is obtainable in other countries? If so which country or countries?


The truth is that I may not have all the facts right now but until am proved wrong with strong evidence concerning this issue, the Nigeria situation keeps getting gloomy and gloomy. In fact it is indeed a country where anything goes and you surely are above the law as long you not a Nigerian

Hmmmmmh... I'll need to verify this before responding to OP's question.