On July 18, 2024, Folake Oke, a baker from Lagos, paid N230,000 to Festus Ikhake Nasamu Philip, a senior immigration officer at the Nigerian Immigration Office (NIS) in Akowonjo, Egbeda, Lagos.

On Thursday, Oke told FIJ that she paid Philip to renew two international passports. One was hers while the other belonged to her husband.

They needed the passports urgently. Philip assured them the process would take only two weeks.

“Our passports were about to expire just as we got sponsorship offers, so we needed to renew them quickly. Philip said they would be ready in two weeks,” she said.

Oke explained that they needed to renew their passports urgently because they had received a sponsorship offer, but their passports were about to expire.

“I paid N230,000 to Philip at the NIS office in Akowonjo. He assured us the passports would be ready in two weeks,” Oke told FIJ.

“The timing was crucial because our sponsor asked us to renew them before they expired.”

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DELAY AND EXCUSES

Oke said she and her husband returned to the NIS office in August, a month after making the N230,000 payment, but Philip told them their applications had been sent to Abuja and were being treated as lost cases since their previous passports were still valid.

“After we paid him, we returned to his office, and he told us that our passports had been sent to Abuja. We believed him but kept calling,” Oke recounted.

They continued calling him for updates, but for three months, Philip refused to answer the phone calls. In December, he finally responded, saying he had been unavailable because his father had undergone surgery and he had to take care of him.

The baker said that the excuses from Philip kept mounting and it was always one issue after the other.

“He stopped taking our calls until December when he told us that his father had been ill and he travelled to look after him,” Oke said.

“After some time, he told us he misplaced his phone and our documents.”

FRUSTRATING REFUND PROCESS

Oke said the senior immigration officer’s handling of their passports became frustrating and her husband was forced to visit the NIS office in Egbeda for a refund.

However, Philip’s colleagues dismissed their complaint, saying he was a senior officer and there was nothing they could do to make him process the passports or return the money.

Oke told FIJ that when it got to a point, she reported to a police officer who threatened Philip and then made him refund N100,000 within a week.

“Since then, he refused to pick up calls again when we call, he will reject and send messages that he’s in hospital, he’s in a meeting, he’s inside the bus, he’s on his way till this morning,” Oke explained.

Meanwhile, Oke said that Philip didn’t ask for capturing but only asked them to submit their passport photographs which he made them pay N2,000 for.

Oke said that amid Philip’s excuses, they discovered that the 10-year passports he took N115,000 for from each of them was N75,000 per person at the time.

She told FIJ that several attempts to get the N130,000 balance from Philp have been futile, as he has continued to make excuses.

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‘I’M INSIDE THE BUS’ – PHILIP

FIJ first contacted Philip for a response to the accusations from the Okes on Thursday.

Philip claimed he was working on the balance and would provide an update by Monday.

“Please, I am working on the balance. I’ll get back to you by Monday,” Philip told FIJ.

On Monday afternoon, FIJ sent him a reminder. He responded, saying he was in transit and would reply as soon as he got off the bus. However, he did not provide any further updates.

“I’m inside the bus I call them as soon as I get down,” he said.

Oke said Philip had given her the same excuse earlier in the day and still said nothing about the refund.

“He just said he’s on his way, as usual. He did not say anything about the refund, and it has been seven months now.”