By Ngozi Nwoke

A non-governmental organisation, Salvation and Service Projects (SSP), has condemned what it termed humiliation and dehumanising treatment given to visa-seeking Nigerians at embassies, particularly the British High Commission in Lagos.

A statement signed by the founder of the group, Mr. Franklin Chekwa, said that Nigerians were being exploited and treated with disdain at the British High Commission, stressing that “our people deserve a better deal.”

According to SSP, the diplomatic relations between Nigeria and Britain ought to be based on the principle of reciprocity considering the age-long relationship between the two countries.

The group said: “It is regrettable and unacceptable that Nigerians seeking visas to go to Britain for one reason or another are subjected to inhuman treatment by the high commission.

“Even people at the point of death are treated shabbily. The other day, a lady  hanging drip on her body was brought  to their office and her mother threatened to abandon her body there if she dies. And because of the threat, they ran out to attend to her in a vehicle before going to bring her passport for her.

“It was gathered that she had applied for visa for more than four months. But as the visa was being delayed, she asked for her passport to be returned but the British officials started dribbling her, asking her to come today and come tomorrow.

“What we saying is that if UK government knows that they are overwhelmed by the applications coming from Nigeria, the best thing to do is to shut down the passport collection centre and clear the backlog they have before commencing again.

“It is because of the millions they are collecting from Nigerians on daily basis. Depending on the type of visa, an application can cost as much as $2000 to process and they get more than 1000 applications every day. You can calculate how much they milking from our people.

“This thing cannot happen in any other country. They are receiving fresh applications without dealing with the backlog of because of the money they are making

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“Students, business people, medical tourists and others are being frustrated. For instance, a woman who wanted to go to UK for treatment could not get her passport back even without visa to seek alternative means.

“The reason for all these is that government officials who stole our money and lodged it in the UK cannot cannot afford to call them to order for fear of being exposed or losing their loot. The ministry of foreign affairs is supposed to call these people to order but  nothing of such is happening.

“There was a time whereby if UK denies you visa, they will stamp your passport, thereby defacing the documents. But Chief Tom Ikimi, as minister of foreign affairs, went to the high commission and warned them to stop defacing documents belonging to Nigerians. And they stopped it. That was a man of integrity. But this government is not doing anything about the ugly experiences of visa – seeking Nigerians.

“Things may get out of hand if they continue this way. If the ministry of foreign affairs is up to it’s game, this type of thing cannot be happening.”

The group said the denial of visa to students  affect their resumption in schools where they had already paid some money. According to the group, the interviewers usually asked all manner of  questions, including that are clearly unnecessary.

“Sometimes no specific reason are given for denial of visa. When you ask them for the reason for the denial, they are not allowed to make such explanations,” the group said.

The group further said that most of the people seeking visas were doing so because Nigeria had failed them.

“If the education system is sound, the rush for schools overseas will not be much. Apart from infrastructure, you cannot with a measure of certainty when a four-year programme because of incessant strikes by university lecturers. Many years ago, foreigners were scrambling for Nigerian universities but the reverse is the case now. That is why the embassies are treating visa-seeking Nigerians with utmost disdain. This must stop.

“If successive governments had built good hospitals with the stupendous earnings from oil, over the years, people will not be rushing abroad for medical tourism. However, the embassies should treat Nigerians with some respect. Enough is enough,” the group added.