So, my dear Nairaland fam, something funny happened while I was preparing for my trip to Nigeria.
Since I left Nigeria in 2013, I go back to visit each year, but haven’t visited since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So in other words, I haven’t travelled with my Canadian passport since I became a Canadian. I told myself I have to travel this year. In preparation for my trip, with the excitement of disvirgining my new passport, I thought it wise to go through the passport and familiarize myself with it, as I never gave it a critical look since I got it. That was when several lightbulb moments occurred.
I realized a lot of things I wasn’t expecting to see on my Canadian passport, due to the nonsense and stigma I’ve been living with for years, travelling with my Nigerian passport.

First, the first page of the Nigerian passport starts with:”These are to request and require in the name of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria….”, while the first page of the Canadian passport starts with:” The minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada requests, in the name of Her Majesty the Queen…” There were no punctuation in the Nigerian passport. It even says “allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance”, while the Canadian one says “allow the bearer to pass freely, without delay or hindrance.” I’m not a legal practitioner and I’m not sure about the difference between “without let” and “without delay”, but I’d rather have a passport that says “without delay”

Secondly, while the last page of the Nigerian passport gives you a CAUTION message, the last page of the Canadian passport gives you vital information such as how to get free travel advice and warnings for every country in the world before you visit, where to sign up to enable the Canadian authorities to contact you in case of an emergency, and how to reach the Canadian government should you be stranded or require immediate assistance while oversees.

Travelling with a blue passport accords you an indescribable respect at the airport or wherever. Previously whenever I’m travelling with my stup1d green passport, it’s either they subject me to a secondary search and call it a random search, or they delay you just by virtue of the fact that you’ve got a green passport, or they spend 15mins looking at the passport, as if they are trying to uncover a fraud on the passport. The stigma was so bad that I even had to go buy a Canadian passport cover for my Nigerian passport, just to help prevent the numerous cases where people tactfully shift away from me at the airport the moment they spot my green passport.

My prayer is for all the industrious Nigerian youths to legitimately find a way out of that geographic location called Nigeria. Let’s leave the country alone for those old politicians who I have met in power since I was born, yet till date, they keep saying the youths are the leaders of tomorrow!

More:

#Lalasticlala
#Seun
#mynd44 please move to FP let’s get more thoughts on this

What you expecting from UAR

Team JAPA-nese may God hear our prayers IJN...

Where you called Nigerian passport useless was the funniest to me.

Totall useless toilet paper.

God bless Europe.

Buhari has destroyed the nation's worth on the global stage

I can relate, I was comparing my boyfriend's passport to mine, even though I couldn't understand some words I am sure it makes sense lol.

Nigeria is a fraudulent country on it's own, everyone at the airport just want to extort in anyway they can.

Everyone to their unique experiences. You can never take Nigeria out of someone so even though you have a foreign passport, you are easily identified as a Nigerian by your name, the way you speak, and how you comport yourself. I am also a frequent traveler like the OP, always proud of my green passport and I have never been treated negatively. I often hide my blue passport (US) unless I have to hold it for a check or something. Proud Naija always.

Try entering some countries with that Green Pali. Dem go send you back at POE even with your visa sticker, na there you go know say Naija don cast

Chemical2:
Everyone to their unique experiences. You can never take Nigeria out of someone so even though you have a foreign passport, you are easily identified as a Nigerian by your name, the way you speak, and how you comport yourself. I am also a frequent traveler like the OP, always proud of my green passport and I have never been treated negatively. I often hide my blue passport (US) unless I have to hold it for a check or something. Proud Naija always.

Chemical2:
Everyone to their unique experiences. You can never take Nigeria out of someone so even though you have a foreign passport, you are easily identified as a Nigerian by your name, the way you speak, and how you comport yourself. I am also a frequent traveler like the OP, always proud of my green passport and I have never been treated negatively. I often hide my blue passport (US) unless I have to hold it for a check or something. Proud Naija always.

Happy travelling with your green passport

OP do not insult our english and our useless passport. Stop it.

myike2:
So, my dear Nairaland fam, something funny happened while I was preparing for my trip to Nigeria.
Since I left Nigeria in 2013, I go back to visit each year, but haven’t visited since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So in other words, I haven’t travelled with my Canadian passport since I became a Canadian. I told myself I have to travel this year. In preparation for my trip, with the excitement of disvirgining my new passport, I thought it wise to go through the passport and familiarize myself with it, as I never gave it a critical look since I got it. That was when several lightbulb moments occurred.
I realized a lot of things I wasn’t expecting to see on my Canadian passport, due to the nonsense and stigma I’ve been living with for years, travelling with my Nigerian passport.

First, the first page of the Nigerian passport starts with:”These are to request and require in the name of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria….”, while the first page of the Canadian passport starts with:” The minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada requests, in the name of Her Majesty the Queen…” There were no punctuation in the Nigerian passport. It even says “allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance”, while the Canadian one says “allow the bearer to pass freely, without delay or hindrance.” I’m not a legal practitioner and I’m not sure about the difference between “without let” and “without delay”, but I’d rather have a passport that says “without delay”

Secondly, while the last page of the Nigerian passport gives you a CAUTION message, the last page of the Canadian passport gives you vital information such as how to get free travel advice and warnings for every country in the world before you visit, where to sign up to enable the Canadian authorities to contact you in case of an emergency, and how to reach the Canadian government should you be stranded or require immediate assistance while oversees.

Travelling with a blue passport accords you an indescribable respect at the airport or wherever. Previously whenever I’m travelling with my stup1d green passport, it’s either they subject me to a secondary search and call it a random search, or they delay you just by virtue of the fact that you’ve got a green passport, or they spend 15mins looking at the passport, as if they are trying to uncover a fraud on the passport. The stigma was so bad that I even had to go buy a Canadian passport cover for my Nigerian passport, just to help prevent the numerous cases where people tactfully shift away from me at the airport the moment they spot my green passport.

My prayer is for all the industrious Nigerian youths to legitimately find a way out of that geographic location called Nigeria. Let’s leave the country alone for those old politicians who I have met in power since I was born, yet till date, they keep saying the youths are the leaders of tomorrow!

Bump.
Very insightful.