@Komekn
Thanks! I went back there all smiles and no questions with all the things they asked for and got the visa. I still feel that they were wrong for specifying that I provide extra information because of my Nigerian background but now I am starting to feel better about visiting Mumbai again. I am due to land in Asia for the first time in my life next month and I can't wait!

When Nigerian men and woman learn to stop hiding drugs in their to-tos and nyashes then such searches will not be justified!

NDLEA arrests two women for cocaine trafficking


Two women have been arrested at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Lagos by officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency for inserting illegal substances suspected to be cocaine in their private parts.

According to a statement by the agency, the suspects, Friday Joy, 27, and Aruna Ramot, 28, were arrested at 7pm on Tuesday, August 12, 2008, during the screening of passengers on KLM flight to Amsterdam.

“Two of them were found to have inserted five wraps each in their private parts,” the statement said.

He said that the NDLEA was able to arrest the women because it was well informed on the tricks often employed by drug traffickers, adding that the agency would fulfil its mission of preventing the country from being used as a transit nation.

Friday, a housewife with a four-year-old son, resides in Bologna in Italy. She inserted five wraps weighing 273 grammes into her private parts.

The suspect, who has spent over seven years in Italy, told the NDLEA that she was in desperate need of money to rent an apartment, having been separated from her husband for over a year.

“It was not my intention; I was only doing it to help myself and my son. I needed money urgently to rent a house. I bought the drugs for the sum of 3,300 euros,” she reportedly confessed.

Preliminary investigation by the NDLEA revealed that this was her second time of trafficking in hard drugs. In her statement, she indicated that she was given 2,000 euros on her first trip.

“The man I went to for help to secure a job told me to do drug business. This is my second time, the first time I was successful and my sponsor paid me 2,000 euros. Considering my condition, I decided to do it myself,” she stated.

Her friend, Ramot, a divorcee, who also lives in Italy, inserted five wraps of the suspected substance, weighing 269 grammes into her private part.

Both suspects, who are from Edo State, claimed to have bought the drug from a man identified as ‘chairman’.
http://odili.net/news/source/2008/aug/18/422.html

Born in the UK, fully educated from primary school to university level in the UK, trained in the UK with a UK coach and they should represent Nigeria. . .

When will Nigeria learn that they can not and should not expect to benefit from another country's hard work? Just because Christine's parents happened to run away from Nigeria years ago and settle in another country it doesn't give Nigeria any automatic claim on their children. After all if the Nigeria hadn't been in such a despicable state they probably wouldn't have left in the first place! abi?

@Poster
It is a full time job/career to be an athlete in America or Britain. They get paid real salaries, get free healthcare for any sports injuries that they may incur. When they win and become world champions they also have a very good chance of attracting millions of dollars or pounds in endorsements. Now what does one get when they become a full time/career athlete in Nigeria?

davidylan:

no its not. India has a larger population than the US, they just one their first gold in 108 years in 50m Shooting!!

I think the poster meant the numbers of participants per country. America has one of the largest Olympic teams with participants in the majority of events being held. I think that that coupled with the seriousness and culture of sport in America is a winning factor.

Jakumo:

For 4 million US dollars I would gladly pose as a Juju man despite the fact that I hold no beliefs whatsoever in magic. Matter of fact I have placed an order for a leopard-skin loin-cloth and various amulets in preparation for my new career.

Now, who in Nigeria's corridors of power wants someone turned into a tortoise ? Be advised that I am available for juju consultation immediately, even before I complete my emergency correspondence course in Jujuology, and I will accept Visa or Master Card payments for those who prefer not to wire funds directly to my Cayman Islands bank account.

You are hilarious! Can I be your assistant?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPbFiVhjVMw&feature=related

Siena:

Sorry sis, to hear about your grief with the Indian Embassy.

I haven't been through that before, so can't really advice.
I can see your point though, their criteria makes little sense.

It doesn't make sense at all! I am seriously thinking about getting my ticket changed so that I can bypass India and just go onwards to Japan at minimal costs. There is still a chance that I may get the visa but this experience has kind of put me off the country. My thing is that they should have clearly stated on their website what the requirements were for people of specific origins regardless of British nationality. . .if they had then maybe I wouldn't have been so taken aback when asked for the other information based on my descent.

I have heard before that they can be legally racist in India with their cast system and something is telling me that this is a sign of things to come. I am really not in mood to deal with that kind of BS and I also feel that I don't want to spend any of my hard earned money in that country.

On the Indian Embassy's website the requirements for a British national travelling to India are a completed application form, two pics, visa fee and of course a UK passport.

Now on the Visa form there is a question that asks about 'previous' and 'present' nationality of the applicant. In my case I state British in both cases. It then goes on to ask about parents nationality, previous and present. I state that Dad was British but his previous nationality was Nigerian.

So as I submit my application and I am told by the official that because Dad was Nigerian I need to provide 3 months bank statements and a letter from my employer. I ask why and I am told because that is what is required of Indians when they go to Nigeria and that it has been agreed by the Nigerian government. I say that I have nothing to do with the Nigerian government and that they can even see from my passport that in the past, I have even had to acquire and pay for visas to go to Nigeria.

I am then told that if I want the visa I should provide those documents. I tell them that I do not have an issue providing these documents but I let them know that I am still at a lost as to why they would require a different set of details from me based on my origin/race and not my nationality.

Of course they have every right to refuse entry into their country but at the same time they really should state that only British nationals of specific origins are issued visas based on the initial criteria I stated above and that others of Nigerian origin and the like are not! For the record my friend who is black British but of Guyanese descent got her visa issued in 3 days straight! But then again she looks more Indian than black , lol

I am quite pissed at the behaviour and attitude of the Indian Embassy and I am in two minds about telling them to stuff their country and just go to Japan instead. But then I have already bought the ticket which is non-refundable and I have to be in Mumbai to get the plane to Japan so I am stuck. I am still worried that they may refuse the visa based on my heritage and then lose the money I paid for the ticket which wasn't cheap at all.

Has anyone else on here had dealings with the Indian Embassy in London?

landis:

when will Nigeria start applying same rule to all 'foreign visitors'??

Nigeria get power to refuse anybody visa? ;DOut of all the people who apply for Nigerian visas sef how many of them are actually 'foreign'?? I say less than 5%, the majority are Nigerians in the diaspora.

Detroit is only 1 city in America and still miles better than any city in Nigeria anyway!

igbogolo:

@ELOSELA
arik does not require your patronage. I don't understand why people come with incredible yardsticks. Because of Arik, the european giant aircraft manufacturer, Airbus, is sending its airbus A380, the largest commercial airplane for demonstration after delivering the 3 brand new A340 500 planes to arik.
Cameroon and Benin are still begging arik to be their flag carrier. In nigeria today they have more that 65 flight daily and still the planes are not enough to ferry passengers.
Arik remains a revolution and I pray for them. When your ''darling'' BA douses you with insecticide or orders your arrest and detention when u complain, when your darling lufthansa takes you to abuja when its meant to take you to lagos without aplologies and compensation, snarl in your face and dare you to do your worst; because there is no good nigerian carrier, am sure u will grow above your cynicism and recognise arik for its feat!

Calm down, it is not that serious!

If they should ever go to Thamesmead. . . .

They will have to have flown internationally for at least 10 years crash free before I would even consider flying with them!

Moyola:

@ topic


I am defining nigerians as people born in nigeria and whose origin dates back to nigeria!

Even with that definition, Caribbeans are still more than us and Nigerians do not make up the majority of black people in the UK

@komekn

I am defining Nigerians as people born in Nigeria.

Nigerians are not the largest black ethnic group in the Uk, I believe the Kenyans are.

Seems like you are classifying every single black person in the UK as a Nigerian by origin but even then, there are less than 2 million (legal) black people (british born and abroad) in the country and I reckon that the illegal ones will not be more than a couple of hundred thousand if that.

There are more Carribbeans and Kenyans than there are Nigerians in the UK.

komekn:

Elosela, let me attempt to shed some light on this discourse firstly my assertion remains the same government estimates remain entirely inaccurate. To substantiate my position consider this excerpt from a BBC investigative programme I watched yesterday not in 2001.

More than 40 houses packed with illegal immigrants were identified in one square mile of Southall, west London. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7505574.stm)

Although it is in reference to Indians comparative trends can be made to Nigerians. Not too long ago during parliamentary question time a senior Home office official admitted to not having any idea whatsover of how many failed asylum seekers were in the UK., there was no attempt to make estimates of illegal immigrants in the UK, as they would be completely inaccurate.

Do you know the residential density of these houses that some of our people are living in 3 /4 persons in one room in a 4 bedroom house, in Dalston, Peckham, etc, etc?

Furthermore there are political considerations do you think a labour government that is way down in the opinion polls is going to admit to having a huge immigration problem which they have no control over.

I have both a personal and professional insight into this discourse. The regeneration of Liverpool as a city has been fuelled largely by influx of foreigners into the city who are economically active, creating socail and ecopnomic capital, Liverpool was designated European capital of culture 2008. Of These a good % are Nigerians.

Considering national statistics, specifically the number of Nigerians employed in the health sector in the UK since 2001 exceeds 75,000. If you multiply that figure to include their immediate families who acquired leave to remain by virtue of one spouse working and living in the UK, you will get at least half a million. Considering that this is one sector alone, Elosela, the assumption you make that 2001 is not a long time ago cannot be described as an intelligent one, I am sorry to say.

If you then take the CIT industry if Nigerians who work in this industry withdrew immediately, simply put the UK would SHUT DOWN.

No matter which way you cut and slice it, there is no way that there are even over a million illegal immigrants in the UK, let alone illegal black people, let alone Nigerians.

We (black people ) are only 2% of the UK population with the Caribbeans being the majority and the Kenyans accounting for the majority of Africans.

The BBC report that you posted also does not prove that there are 3.5 million Nigerians in the UK. Britain has never being relaxed with her borders and so for one to assume that a million Nigerians had slipped into the country unnoticed since the 2001 census was done is naïve. Maybe a couple of thousand yes but not millions.

Furthermore, Nigerians do not make up the majority of black professionals working in the NHS

US ( NY, Dallas, Houston, LA, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Miami, Orlando, New Jersey + more)
UK (London, Manchester, Liverpool, Huddersfield, parts of Scotland and Wales + more)
Brazil (Salvador do Bahia)
France (Paris, Calais and Lille)
Germany (Frankfurt and Berlin)
Italy (Milan)
Nigeria (Lagos, Benin, Warri and Sapele+ more)
Jamaica (Kingston, Montego Bay, Negril and Ocho Rios)
Gambia (Banjul)
Senegal (Dakar)
Spain (Barcelona and Madrid)
Mexico ( Tijuana)
Canada (Toronto, Niagra falls)

Soon to visit:
India (Mumbai)
Japan (Tokyo)
Australia (Sydney)
New Zealand (Auckland)
Singapore

tpia:

2001 was 7 years ago.

Unless there has been a steady exit of blacks from Britain at the same rate as they're entering the country, then the figures can't remain the same.

2001 was 7 years ago but not too long ago and that is why I say 1.2 million then and maybe around 2 million now.

That plus the point that these is no way the Brown/Blair would have allowed the UK borders to be penetrated by that many black people let alone Nigerians to the point where the population is now 5 million of us in the UK.

If people take the time to leave peckham or thamesmead they will find that there is not that many black people in the UK at all.

komekn:

In determining numbers of Nigerians abroad throw all official figures in the bin. There are two main parameters legal and illegal.

Within the legal there is another parameter legal but not found to be illegal yet, in the UK for instance do you know how many Nigerians operate on acquired nationalities for right of abode in the UK. In this respect a good % of Liberians, Sierra Leoneans are actually Nigerians, and then a few have trickled through as Congolese, etc. Add to that acquired legal status by hook or crook, i mean i know Nigerians as sad as it is who have died and been buired in their assumed and acquired names.

If we include the term of Nigerian origin in the UK at which generation do we stop I can assure you that in excess of 50% of all people of black mixed race heritage are of Nigerian origin, particularly in the port cities of Cardiff and Liverpool. A legacy of sailors past from Nigerian that predates even the First World War.
Finally add the legal and illegal in London alone, there is no street or tower block in inner city London you do not have Nigerian families, Peckham is almost like Mushin( sorry if you live in Peckham).
My projections for the UK are in excess of 3.5 million, the rest of Europe I would guess and say at least 500,000. The rest of the world Africa, the Americas in all honesty no idea, but surely they are in millions.
ming numbers of Nigerians fisrt

There are only around 2 million black people in Britain making up 2% of the population. Black people which includes Nigerians, Caribbeans and other Africans.

Ok so that is the official figure of every person of African descent in the UK but even with your estimation at 3.5 million that would mean that there are at least 1.5 million illegal unaccounted black people alone in Britain and I doubt that there are even that many illegal immigrants of any race in the country at all let alone that many illegal black people.

This isn't the US where people can hide and work undercover to avoid being detected. The UK is a small island and I doubt that 1.5 million would be able to go undetected, legal or not.

Peckham is also a very small area with a population I would say of not more than 26,000 and though the majority there may be Nigerians it is again far off from the inflated millions that every one else is quoting.

I am scared of going to Nigeria. My family are from the Delta region and the last time I touched down there was in 2006. It is ironic that the richest part of Nigeria hardly had any electricity and as soon as it was dark (around 9pm) criminals and other non-entities took over the street.

I find it really funny that people will suggest that if you want to go to Nigeria that one should stay away from the places like Ketu and the like which to me are places that are very real to most Nigerians in that 70% of the populous live like that. To advise one to just stay in places like VGC and Lekki which to me are areas in Lagos that are trying so desperately hard to be westernised and only a minimal amount of Nigerians live that way is quite pretentious in my book. What every happened to sampling the real Nigeria?

Busy_body:

Enjoy your short-lived victory till you come back with a current figure from the current census.

The 2001 UK census is the current/latest one Thicko!

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/uk.html

The CIA fact book states that the UK has a population of just under 61 million and black people make up just 2%.

2% of 61 mill is a measly 1.2 million black people in the UK made up of those of Caribbean origin or born in the Caribbean and other Africans born in the UK or in Africa.

According to the UK 2001 census there were 485,277 Africans in the UK and 565,876 of Caribbean origin. In fact, according to the BBC, the largest number of Africans born in Africa and currently residing in the UK are Kenyans, not Nigerians.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/uk/05/born_abroad/countries/html/overview.stm

I don't know why Nigerians are attracted to the UK as the climate is not for them, that plus the £ is declining sharply. I think Nigerians looking to progress outside their countries should look to America as there are loads more opportunities to be had there plus the road to success is easier.

Akolawole:

It has nothing to do with the strenght of the currency.

I think its because of "home-away-from-home". As at 1999, over 1 million Nigerians live in UK.

And with just 6 hours flight, it was even closer to home than South africa.

I think that there are less than half a million Nigerian born individuals in the UK and most of them are in London. Where are you getting your figures from?

Most popular tourist destinations are visa-free for European and American nationals, who make up the majority of tourists to Africa.

Nigeria needs to improve greatly on her security for foreign nationals visiting the country and scrap the visa fee. I can't see anyone desperate enough to get in to Nigeria that they would go through the hassle of lining up for a visa in an unruly embassy and paying $100 or 40 pounds onto top of their package holiday price when they can go to many other African destinations visa free.

fotodaddy:

papillo cool down. What he said might be subjective but not a lie!!! There are conditions for everything but one thing is for sure; no free lunch in freetown. So even if you make a call to AA, you must have taken the policy first!!!

But you don't get a fine which is what the other poster stated! You don't have to have a policy to receive road side assistance when you break down on the motorway in the uk. Albeit expensive you can still pay on the spot for the service.

What are the speed limits in Lagos? wouldn't it be better to make those public knowledge first before being so eager to collect fines?

1 million Naira is only useful to someone who has the brains to use it effectively.

I think a 6 month trip to the USA, where they will know sufferhead in terms of working to pay off bills, keeping a roof over their head and food on the table will be much more of an eye-opener to a Nigerian graduate; Furthermore the international experience and the intermingling of other people around the world would be character building and much more than 1 million Naira in the long term.

What happened to the stance that Nigeria was so 'great' that people shouldn't even be risking arm and leg to get out? Now you have this fool basically saying that it should be alright for Nigerians to illegally set up shop in another's man country because 500 years ago, when Nigeria was merely a figment of the imagination, visas weren't given out!

Only an illiterate would make such a statement on a public international stage.

Any wonder why Nigeria can't progress when we have buffoons like this one in office?

Anyway sha, Madukwe only has mouth to say this to the British and other Europeans. He should try that stance with the South Africans and then we will see how many Nigerians the locals will murder in one night.

Kobojunkie:

[url=http://www.guardian newsngr.com/ breaking_ news/article01]Govt seeks regularisation of Nigerians' stay abroad [/url]

"I told them, and I was not joking when I said so, that when they came to Africa 500 years ago, they did not come in with visas. Since we did not criminalise and demonise those Europeans, they should not criminalise those Nigerians who come to their own countries without visa papers, especially if those Nigerians when they arrive are law abiding and, are doing the kind of work that add value to the European economy.

Jakumo:

Iyabo is guilty of looting the treasury to the tune of 30 and NOT ten million Nara, but she is even more guilty of being so astonishingly ugly as to frighten children and domestic animals.

Ah you are wicked oh!

Kola

Good thread and thanks!

I don't understand the method to show how words should be pronounced though. Maybe you could try spelling out the words phonetically to help.

Dis Guy:

I read on on two Nigerian newspapers last week, though no pictures or follow up as usuali think legal aid council are part of the NBA, as usual you have to bring things to people attention to get help

Thanks! I didn't realize that they were part of the NBA. Nice and relieved to know that this young man is finally getting some proper legal representation.

Hmmm

As we don't have a 'current affairs' section, here is a good as any. . .

Where is the good ol' NBA in all this? Since they are on a 'patriotic' tip with the BA fiasco, one would think that they would be the first ones to mouth off about this. Or are they only concerned with 'money making' cases like suing BA?? Why is the Nigerian media not all over this story?

I can only imagine the ensuing uproar, had Ugo been held in a European prison for 7 years and finally released with a withered leg.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7388599.stm

Nigerian court frees 'dead son'
Ugochukwu Nwaokporo
For the last six years, Mr Nwaokporo's family believed he was dead

A Nigerian man, believed dead by his family, has been released from police custody on bail after seven years in detention without charge.

Ugochukwu Nwaokporo, now 24, was arrested in 2001, just after he arrived in the capital, Abuja, his family say.

He was tortured and shot in the leg by police in an attempt to force him to confess to armed robbery, he says.

A year later his parents say that they were told Mr Nwaokporo was dead and did not know he was still being held.

The Nigerian police have been the subject of several reports by international human rights organisations who say they are guilty of arbitrary imprisonment, summarily executing detainees and routine torture.

Vagrant

Mr Nwaokporo's parents say their son travelled from the south-eastern city of Onitsha to Abuja to find work in 2001.


Peter Nwaokporo
They told me he was dead, and I thought there was nothing I could do, so I went home
Peter Nwaokporo, Ugochukwu's father

Speaking for the first time since his release, Mr Nwaokporo told the BBC News website that he had arrived in a remote area of the capital at night and decided to stay in the motor park where his bus had dropped him.

A group of police officers were rounding up vagrants and they arrested him.

While in police custody, he was blindfolded, beaten and led out on to a piece of waste ground where he believed the police would kill him, he says.

The officers shot him in the leg.

"They told me if I confessed they would take me to a hospital. But I did not."

He treated his own wound with medical supplies brought to him by church groups who visited the police station cells where he was held.

But the first time he cleaned the wound it was with his own urine, his lawyer told the court.


Sometimes I lost myself I was so afraid
Ugochukwu Nwaokporo

His leg is now withered and almost useless, the bullet has broken the bone and it has not healed properly.

His father, a civil servant from Ebonyi State, was told of his son's arrest by one of the church groups who visited the jail.

He came to Abuja regularly to beg for his son's release, but was brushed off every time.

Then in 2002 the family was told their son's name had been scrubbed off the list of inmates at the jail.

"They told me he was dead, and I thought there was nothing I could do, so I went home," Peter Nwaokporo told the BBC.

'The president'

Ugochukwu Nwaokporo says that he was held in a cell in an Abuja police station for the whole seven years of his detention.

Ugochukwu Nwaokporo (2nd from right) is helped from court
Ugochukwu Nwaokporo was helped from court as his leg is now withered

He was known among police officers as "the president" of the jail because he had been there so long, and some of them tried to help him, he says.

But while there, he heard police summarily execute several armed robbery suspects.

"Sometimes I lost myself I was so afraid," he told the BBC.

In 2006, the police tried to bring charges of armed robbery against Mr Nwaokporo in the High Court.

The case was delayed several times in Nigeria's tortuously slow legal system until 2008.

It was picked up by Nigeria's Legal Aid Council who appointed Mr Nwaokporo a lawyer.



"They have not brought him to court in seven years to enter a plea. They want to keep him in prison as long as they can," his lawyer Nnaemeka Ejiofor said.

"When they arrested him, they didn't have anything on him, so they put him back in jail thinking that perhaps he would die. But by the grace of God he did not."

Because of a misunderstanding, his family were not notified that their son was alive until last month.

Trial

He was bailed for $4,000 (£2,000) on Wednesday by a member of a church group helping his case.

He still faces trial on armed robbery, conspiracy and weapons charges.

But the robbery the police say he committed took place two months after Mr Nwaokporo says he was taken into custody.

"In Nigeria, if you do not have money, you cannot buy someone to maintain for you," his father said.

"The police should be protecting the citizens but they're victimising them."