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.

READ MORE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/nigerian-embassies-in-china-uk-usa-others-dont-reply-citizens-email-enquiries/

They only come to office when there is information that an ambassador is paying a visit

Nigeria embassy in Berlin has been closed for almost 6 months now. No news of when they reopening. Everything is down in Nigeria.