Silas Jonathan Silas, a journalist with the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), Abuja, has recounted the unpleasant experience he had while trying to obtain a visa at the Ethiopian Embassy.

Silas, in an interview with FIJ, said the two-phased incident happened between February 15 and 16.

He also made it known that the disappointing incident centred around the hostile, disrespectful and condescending attitude of one of the embassy’s front-line officials.

“All through the two encounters I had with the same frontline official at the Ethiopian Embassy, I felt profiled and ridiculed for no genuine reason,” said Silas while speaking to FIJ.

“The reason I visited the embassy was because I had been invited to attend a workshop in Georgia. The workshop in question was to take place between February 28 and March 3.

“In getting to my destination, however, I was expected to first make a trip to Ethiopia.

“I actually visited the Ethiopian Embassy twice while trying to obtain the visa I needed. The plan was to first spend five days in Ethiopia before finally heading for Georgia. Georgia only has three embassies in Africa: Egypt, South Africa and Ethiopia.

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“The first time I went there, I came across some Nigerian ladies who complained about the way they were treated by the front desk official, a lady.

“They specifically dwelt on how she treated them in a disdainful manner during their interaction with her. One of the ladies was practically in tears as she gathered her documents and left the premises.”

Silas told FIJ that the way he was treated was not in any way different from the ladies’ tales when he approached the Ethiopian official’s desk.

“When I approached that particular official’s desk in a bid to make an inquiry, she did not even allow me to finish my first question before referring me to the embassy’s notice board,” Silas said.

“”Just go! Just go outside!” She said, refused to hear me out. She was not even listening to me.

“She screamed in the presence of many people and I had to quietly leave her presence at once.”

‘THIS LETTER LOOKS FORGED!’

After the first unpleasant experience Silas had with the official, he left the embassy premises with a plan to return the following day with all the requirements stated on the notice board she had referred him to.

“As I entered the Ethiopian Embassy a second time, I saw that another man was already exchanging words with the same lady at the front desk,” said Silas.

“From their interaction, I was able to deduce that the man had been frustrated by the lady.

“The incident then made me remember the remarks the ladies from the previous day had made about the way they had been treated.”

Silas said that when it was his turn to present his documents to the lady, another drama ensued.

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“Remember I said she did not even allow me to ask the questions I felt I needed to ask from her when I visited the previous day,” Silas said.

“When I got to her desk, she asked me for my invitation letter. When I showed the letter to her, what she said was, ‘I can’t believe this! This invitation letter looks forged!”

“She also said that my story did not add up because she had never seen journalists travel to Georgia via Ethiopia before. She then added that it was only students she had ever seen travel via that route.

“She also said she was not sure the contact person in the invitation letter was not my fabrication and that the person could be aiding me in my attempt to illegally travel to Georgia.

“At that point, I told her I felt I was being profiled and asked her why she thought all Nigerians were in the habit of forging documents. She suddenly raised her voice, saying, “Did I mention Nigeria? Did I mention Nigeria?”

‘I WILL NOT CALL ANYBODY!’

When Silas felt he was not making any progress in his interaction with the embassy official, he made the suggestion of calling the contact person stated on the invitation letter to her.

“After I made that suggestion, she again raised her voice and said she would not reach out to anybody. She repeated the statement two other times. “‘I will not call anybody! I will not call anybody!’ she said,” said Silas.

“She then again re-emphasised her earlier statement that the invitation letter looked forged.

“She also told me that she would not pass my documents to her other colleagues who were to further vet and work on them before a visa could be granted.

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“As if that wasn’t enough, she said I needed to call the foreign ministry in Georgia to call them at their office in Abuja.

“Her utterances seemed shocking to me. First of all, I am a Nigerian, not a Georgian. I am only temporarily travelling to Georgia for a workshop and you expect me, despite not being a Georgian, to call the foreign ministry in Georgia for a visa confirmation?

“Why do we then have visa applications and embassies such as theirs for confirmation if you will always tell people to call foreign ministries for confirmation or to know if people’s applications are legitimate?”

‘WE DON’T ISSUE VISAS TO NIGERIANS!’

Silas told FIJ that the frontline official also asked him to get the Georgian organisation that invited him to send the Ethiopian Embassy a notarised copy of the letter.

“This time, the things she started mentioning were not even what I saw on the board she had directed me to the previous day,” said Silas.

“This was the same lady who would not allow me to ask questions when I first approached her desk.

“I was then prompted to ask if this was the same way a Nigerian tourist hoping to get a visa through the Ethiopian Embassy would normally be treated. To this, she retorted, saying, ‘We don’t give visas again to Nigerians!’

“She went on raising her voice to the point that everyone present witnessed the whole drama.

“I sincerely saw everything as a case of profiling for the simple fact that she continued to dwell on document forgery. She went as far as complaining about the font size of the invitation letter I submitted.

“She practically raised her voice all through my interaction with her.

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“Nobody talks about the nuances of profiling at embassies in Nigeria. Most Nigerians don’t even know why. Some even feel it is okay to be humiliated, treated disdainfully and with disrespect by embassy officials from foreign countries.

“I don’t think that is okay.”

In the end, Silas was denied a visa at the Ethiopian Embassy.

The journalist said he went on to lodge a complaint on the embassy’s Facebook page but did not receive any response.

AN EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT

An eyewitness, who asked not to be named, also spoke to FIJ about how the same lady rudely addressed applicants at the embassy.

Coincidentally, she visited the embassy during the same period as Silas.

“My uncle was supposed to travel to Ethiopia for training. On Friday, and because he was down with fever, he sent me to the embassy to find out about the things he would be needing in terms of document requirements to get a visa,” the eyewitness said.

“I spent hours there and saw the lady embarrass a lot of Nigerian applicants. Some ladies even left the embassy crying.

“The lady was literally shouting at everybody there. She told some ladies that their account balance could not even take them to another state in Nigeria, not to talk of outside Nigeria. That was the height of it for me.

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“People should not be disrespected in their own country just because they are seeking visas to travel to other countries. That is not fair; that is not right!”

On Tuesday, FIJ sent an email to the Ethiopian Embassy in Abuja for comments on the allegations made against its official, but it had not been responded to at press time.