Published 24th Jan, 2022

By Emmanuel Uti

Pamela Adie, a Twitter user, has narrated how officials at the Maputo International Airport in Mozambique ill-treated her and prevented her from entering the country despite following what she thought was due process.

In what she described as a diplomatic failure and poor tourism policy, Adie slammed the Mozambique government in a Twitter thread on Sunday for not clearly stating how one could get a visa to stay in their country.

She said she left Lagos for Mozambique last week and planned to stay there for a week before returning to Nigeria. She had researched travel and visa requirements and found that Nigerians could get visas on arrival.

“I couldn’t find any information about a Mozambican embassy or consulate in Nigeria, which led me to believe there wasn’t any. The logistics officer and travel agent found the same information that I did: ‘Nigerians get visas on arrival,’” she wrote.

“My boss even wrote a letter confirming my employment, including a return ticket, and hotel reservation confirmation directly from the hotel. All paid for. I was ready to go! Well, that was until I got to Mozambique after a 22-hour flight time with Ethiopian Airlines.”

When Adie got to the airport in Mozambique, she said, an immigration officer asked for her passport, hotel, and return ticket, which she provided. Next, the officer asked for her visa, but the question was a surprise as it was at odds with what she had learned.

According to Adie, the officer insisted that although she would get her visa on arrival, she had to provide a letter of invitation from the Mozambican embassy in Nigeria.

I left Lagos to Mozambique last week. I planned to be there for about a week and return to Nigeria. As I always do before travel, I researched travel & visa requirements. What I found for citizens of Nigeria is that we can get visa on arrival.
— Pamela Adie (@pamelaadie) January 23, 2022

A male officer later came around, said Adie, and asked for the same document. “I asked what could be done, and he said ‘nothing’, because it takes one month to get this letter. And since I didn’t have it, I’d have to go back to my country,” she said.

She said she noticed things got serious when the first officer took pictures of her passport page, return ticket, hotel reservation, and COVID-19 result with her phone. She said the officer called another staff member, who then escorted her to a waiting hall.

Adie asked them if she could use anyone’s phone to inform her folks waiting for her to know what was happening. But they would not grant her request.

In the waiting hall, she said, an officer from the airline appeared and gave her a new boarding pass. But it was an economy class ticket to Nigeria.

“I told him I travelled business class, so why was I given an economy class ticket? He said I didn’t have a choice in the matter. He told me they would return my passport to me when I arrived in Lagos, like I was some kind of criminal,” she said.

“The plane I came on was about to return, and I was about to get on it. But I didn’t want to leave, letting anyone know what happened. So one officer agreed to let me use his phone. I called someone in Mozambique to let them know and to let my boss know.”

“When I got back to Addis, I wasn’t allowed to leave the airport because they wouldn’t release my passport. Despite the 12-hour layover, they made me sleep on a metal chair in the airport overnight. Such inhumane treatment for someone who isn’t a fugitive. That was so unnecessary.”

“That was how I returned after a pointless journey over 3 days. Now, I don’t know if this was personal, or if this is the treatment, they give Nigerians or anything like that. I don’t know. But it’s unfair and unwise to have a policy that people find out about after they’ve arrived or by being lucky enough to know someone who has travelled there before and knows of their policy.”

“This is such a diplomatic failure and a very poor tourism policy. As I type this, I haven’t been able to find a Twitter handle for the Mozambican government.”

“Such information should not be something only a privileged few have unless they’re intentionally not making information public to prevent certain unsuspecting people from entering their country. It makes absolutely no sense.”

“As it stands now, if I wanted to visit #Mozambique again, I have no idea how to proceed or how to get that letter. Imagine the number of people they have turned back. Imagine if my life depended on making this trip, or if I had other plans after #Maputo.”

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