What Can Honest Nigerians Do to Stop 'Nigerian Scams'?

Dear Naira Land Users,
 
Am Segoye2, I reside in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria and a citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

I read through all the contributions we have on this thread and I want to say a big thank you to Mr. Admin for putting up such a great topic. But when we talk about scam, I believe is not restricted to the yahoo yahoo, as people back here call it, but, has its root in the sand of the most honest men of our country.

Like in the case below, you will discover that almost everything in here is scam, if you don’t accept it now, I believe someone close to you, soonest will make you accept it.
 
I quite appreciate the great wave the Nigerian immigration has taken into ensuring that Visa, Passport and other immigration issues are tackled easily online, which means every processing would be very fast and easy to make.
 
I want to report a case that has been given me concern, and as a citizen of this great nation, I felt such shouldn’t be heard or seen, even if heard before, shouldn't be now again. I wish to report to you the Nigerian Immigration Passport Continuous Extortion of money from Innocent Nigerian Citizens.
 
The fact that International Passport Application can be done on internet, from the comfort of your home or a registered cyber cafe is no more news to an average Nigerian, and is a welcomed development, and we citizens appreciate the brain behind this great project.
 
A friend of mine, who currently works with the NNPC Medical as a Laboratory Technician is scheming for admission abroad, and as part of the requirement for any international student, we, with the information on online international passport application which can be done at www.immigration.gov.ng, we bought  a card from UBA bank which we got at the actual amount spelt out on the immigration site (5,100), and we applied for the international passport online just as advertised / instructed and made the payment and got not only an interview date which was  re-scheduled by us because it was too close but got the application payment slip and acknowledgement page alongside. And Asaba Passport office was selected as the Passport Interview Venue.
 
Below is an extract from the Nigerian Immigration Website;
 
General Procedures For Passport Application:
1.   Applicants go the Immigration Web portal, Click on the 'APPLICATIONS' link.
2.   From 'APPLICATIONS'  click 'APPLY' under Passport Application Home.
3.   Select Passport Type From the Drop down list and select the type of Passport you want.
4.   Click The 'Start Application' Button to start the application
5.   Fill the Passport Application, check the 'I AGREE' check box then click the 'SUBMIT APPLICATION' Button
6.   From 'SUBMIT APPLICATION' Click on the 'Here' Link to view and print the 'ACKNOWLEDGEMENT SLIP'
7.   Click the 'Pay Online' button to pay for the Application, Then choose your mode of payment then Click 'CONTINUE' 
8.   View a summary of your Application, Then Click 'PROCEED' if information is correct, a payment window Opens
9.   A message will Appear to show if your payment was Successful or Not
10.   If Successful you can view and print the 'PAYMENT RECEIPT'
General Documents to bring along for the interview:
   *ACKNOWLEDGEMENT SLIP and PAYMENT RECEIPT Showing Passport must be printed and brought along to the Passport Office
   *A letter from the applicant's Local Government
   *Applicant's Birth Certificate or Age Declaration
   *Applicant submits Two recent photograph (no laser copies), passport size bearing the full face
Standard Passport Application Requirements:
1.   A Guarantor's Form signed by a Magistrate or a High Court judge.
2.   Parents' Letter of Consent for minors under 16 years.
3.   Marriage Certificate, where applicable.
4.   Husband's Letter of Consent for wives.
5.   Police report in case of loss of old passport.
6.   Applicant submits application with supporting documents to Passport Control Officer (PCO).
 
 
Contrary to the information supplied above from the Nigerian Immigration Site, when she got to Asaba on 7th of May as was on her Interview date, with the documents she was asked to come along with which cost her lots of stress to travel to her local government to get the documents, she was bounced back by the immigration officers operating the Asaba office, they claimed she would have to pay an Extra 6,000 (six thousand naira only) outside that which she had already paid to the bank, She was played around by not only one immigration officer but about four of them, one even collected her documents and went into the thin air after he promised processing the passport with 5,500 (though she retrieved back her documents + the card she bought at UBA from the supposed immigration officer that collected it from her on 14th).
 
The officers gave out their number and even some gave their complementary cards, we felt this is unnecessary extortion that needed attended to. And  personally, I felt if their is need for more fees to be paid as they claimed, then, it should be spelt out on the Nigerian Official Immigration website and anything outside that is another level of scamming the Nigerian Community and nation at large.
 
The Interview date was re-scheduled for 14th May, after she was turned back to her base which is about 2 hours journey. When she got to the passport office on 14th May 2007, to the shock of my life, she was told that if she doesn't pay 5,500, nothing would be processed she’ asked to go and get someone else that would attend to her. Though I already asked that a receipt should be issued for the 5,500 which I believe / hope they would issue. But, a receipt was not issued, they claim they don't issue receipt, As at 14th May 2007, about 144 paid this undocumented fee, which I believe our great national corruption / scam baiter should probe them for this act, I still  asked myself where is this whole money going to? I wonder how some persons / group of persons would be stealing with their conscience on, and above all, I still wonder the authenticity of this whole passport exercise.
 
I want you to use your good offices, see to it, that this injustice and unecessary exploitation / extortion of our community is stopped, if not on the case of this innocent citizen, but on other innocent citizens that even to raise the 5,100 is already difficult for. And I want to say, as a citizen of this country, we have, I have right to say No to this money extortion. I have right to say, corruption has to STOP!

I later received a call from a friend in far northern part of the country and he made me know that this whole issue is as old as the Nigeria Nation itself and it a nation wide issue. And to me, this whole extortion exercise has to stop, for the sake of our future, our history. And outside this great extortion process, Would you believe that our children and young people are being killed for rituals every minute of the day in Nigeria?

 
Many of the things going on in Nigeria can only go on in Nigeria. And just as I promised the officers that I will report the case to immigration directly, I hope and which that investigation be done fast and the culprits be brought to book, and in a case where the money they are requesting for is Legal, and then I will urge the Nigerian Immigration to please, include it on their official website and include it to the adverts / jingles to enable the Nigeria community know, how much they would be needing to process each passport and should there be any need to get the cell number of this immigration officers, I would kindly supply them to you.

If Nigeria cannot be saved, then what about the Niger Delta?
 
Sincerely yours,
 

Segoye2
Activist / Online Campaigner
Niger Delta, Nigeria.

The above address looks like a council tower block. That must be the residence of his accomplice as no reputble company will have an office in a council flat.

Report them to the authorities ! Preferably the EFCC.

Keep on doing your thing guy.With more people like you we go move forward and we will put an end to all this bad image.Nigeria is a great Country dt will rise again

The future is bleak for Nigerian who do legitimate business online. When you place orders online with a credit or debit card issued from a Nigerian bank or from a Nigerian IP address you order may initially go through but the order will eventually get cancelled and your fund may be on hold for between 3 days to 3 weeks. The question now is how do we do legitimate transactions when the world refuses to deal with us? We are forced to  either order sub standard products and services or look  for alternatives (which at most times end up being illegal). Being a web developer i have to make online payments all the time and my experience has made me realize that it takes extra ordinary effort to be a honest Nigerian

http://www.spiralteck.com

The fact about Internet Scams is that the more the rate increases, the more it leads to a blackmail of the image of the country and its people.

So we all must fight against this in our respective capacities and rise up to the task.

These are suggestions of what we can do:
- Advice our family, friends and colleagues who are into scams
- Report the stubborn ones to EFCC
- Launch campaigns online to fight scams (see www.dontgetdupped(dot)blogspot(dot)com)
- Preach about this in our respective churches and mosques
- And so on

Together we can fight against NIGERIAN INTERNET SCAM

To your success

www.

We all have killed our country's image.

When i maintained a silent protest, refusing to dance to the song yahoozee, people thought i was just being too goody-goody.

How the heck do songs glorifying theft like 'Yahoozee' and 'I go Chop your Dollar' become chart toppers if we aren't a nation of thieves?

I am not going to say this is a bad idea but it still does not help solve the problem or salvage our image. At the end of the day, it is still up to individual Nigerians to turn these scammers in and see to it that they are prosecuted.