Published 31st Jan, 2022

By Tola Owoyele

Nigerians residing in Germany have lamented the ordeal they are forced to go through while trying to renew their passports at the Nigerian Embassy in Berlin.

They said they wait long hours before entering the premises, and that a long queue always extends from the entrance of the embassy to the end of the street.

“The people we have at the Nigerian Embassy in Germany here are doing nothing. In short, we don’t even have an embassy in Germany!” Said a Nigerian resident, who identified as Malcolm A., in a chat with FIJ.

“Now, it is still snowing and the embassy does not even have arrangements for its citizens here. We line up in the cold, just like the way people stand in a queue in Lagos and Abuja embassies back home.”

Malcolm said what Nigerians go through at the embassy reminds him of periods of fuel scarcity in Nigeria, when citizens stand in long queues, trying to purchase fuel at filling stations.

“They don’t have a place to keep people. If you manage to enter the premises, it cannot accommodate much people. As a matter of fact, the embassy only has just one heater for the multitude of Nigerians trouping in every day from all parts of Germany to renew their passports,” said Malcom.

“The only option you have when you are finally within the premises is to stand as close as possible to the next person so you generate body heat that can help you fight the cold.”

Anita, a Nigerian who has spent seven years in Germany, said things are different in other embassies.

“On this same street, we have the Chinese, Gambian and all other embassies. The only embassy where you’ll have people queue on the road as if they are destitute is the Nigerian embassy,” she said.

“It is a shame that although we pay excess money to get the so-called passports, nothing has changed. It took me a lengthy period and a lot of stress before I could get my passport renewed.”

Anita also said she entered one office at the embassy and was told the system showed that her passport had been issued.

“When I started creating a scene inside the office, one official eventually got up from her seat to search around. After a while, she came back and handed the passport to me from a brown envelope. These people deliberately hoard these passports from us, and it is not nice.”

Malcolm said his friends in Italy, Austria and Switzerland are going through the same ordeal at the moment.

“We don’t have working embassies. I paid close to €700 to get a passport I was meant to pay €120 for online. Why are they treating us this way?” She asked.

FIJ sent an email to the Nigerian Embassy in Germany on the issues raised, but no response was received.

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