Sweden

Nigerian Immigration Service: How Not To Issue New International Passports To Nigerians Abroad

/ Adeola / 4 Comments

By Adeola Aderounmu

Nigerians living in certain parts of the world are already frustrated and unhappy with the performances and activities of some of the Nigerian embassies abroad.

One remarkable problem area with the Nigerian foreign missions is in the issuance of the International passport for Nigerians residing abroad.

I have listened to several Nigerians who have been frustrated by the processes/ procedures of acquiring new Nigerian passport at the expiration of their old passports.

The stories and experiences from the Nordic countries are as diverse as the narrators.

Some people have to wait for 2 months or more before their passports are available for collection.

Sometimes some people waited so long that they eventually gave up! It is a harrowing experience to wait for 6 months.

A few years ago the stories were always about taking the applications from Sweden to London for processing. I don’t know if anyone has verified if such stories were true.

It won’t be out of line to doubt the authenticity of such fables against the backdrop of the new found boldness of the Nigerian Immigration officials who now travel for about 6000km from Nigeria to Sweden from time to time.

Their missions include “snapping photographs” and travelling back to process passports for their ( sometimes helpless) fellow citizens living in the cold Nordic zone.

When the present Nigerian ambassador to Sweden arrived in 2011 he made efforts aimed at fast-tracking the application process.

He had also made us to believe that he had been tackling the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) on the need to ensure that the Nigerian embassy in Sweden can independently issue passports to Nigerians living in Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Finland. His efforts have not yielded the desired outcome.

Nigerians living in the Nordic area usually turn to the Nigerian embassy in Stockholm for services relating to passport renewal and other important services that the embassy can help with.

It is therefore both scandalous and disgraceful that the Nigerian embassy in Sweden does not have the capability to process and issue Nigerian passport for Nigerians living in the countries mentioned above.

In the past the story was about “the passports are made in London”. Now it is well known that Nigerian Immigration officials travel all the way from Nigeria to Sweden on a certain day and an announcement is sent by sms to Nigerians connected to the Nigerian Union. The Information is also available online (see http://www.nigerianembassysweden.se).

Here below is the mission of the Nigerian Immigration Officials who have travelled from Nigeria to Sweden.

[“Dear fellow Nigerians

Nigerian Immigration officials from Abuja arrived at the Nigerian Embassy today the 13th of March to assist Nigerian seeking to obtain the new E passport. The officers will be at the embassy in Stockholm until Friday the 16th of March 2012

Those wishing to secure the new E passport should report at the Embassy of Nigerian in Stockholm, with the following requirements.
1. Identification document in form of a Nigerian passport, Swedish passport, A Swedish ID card or equivalent
2. passport photographs
3. A letter of authorisation from parents for children seeking the passport
4. A passport fee of 700: Swedish Crowns
Call the Nigerian Embassy to confirm if you are unsure of your particular requirements”]
The information on the embassy’s website is not the same as the sms that has been sent by the Nigerian Union. Somebody had lied about the dates and I won’t be shock if the purpose is to create panic. On the website the duration of the wasteful presence of the NIS officials is 2 weeks.

In any case this story solidifies what is known about the nature of corruption in Nigeria. Corruption and the display of intellectual deficiency are so endemic that the winning argument as at today is that there is no hope for Nigeria.

I have no doubts that the fact that the Nigerian embassy in Sweden has no passport processing machine is because the NIS director or senior officials find it convenient to embezzle funds by sending some favoured or selected officials to Sweden. If they are here themselves, it won’t be shocking.

The NIS by these acts/attitudes is showing the world that it is incapable and irresponsible.

I am convinced that it is cheaper for the Nigerian government to deliver an authentic passport machine to provide for the needs of Nigerians living in the Nordic countries than sending some already officials to Sweden every now and then. The smell of corruption is too hard to ignore.

Why buy a cow when the milk is so cheap?

The Nigerian government in the past and now has never pretended about her profligacy. When Goodluck Jonathan visited Sweden at the time Mr. Igali was still the ambassador, the Swedish government was left in shock at the display of opulence, waste and reckless spending.

It was so bad that it probably led to the cancellation of the remaining scholarship opportunities for Nigerian students studying in Sweden. A Nigerian student Mr. Oyebanji was quickly referred to Nigerian politicians when he sought a scholarship offer.
Nigerian diplomats and government officials don’t like to read about criticisms of their offices or actions. They want to read about only positive things about Nigeria.

How can they forget the sufferings of the Nigerian people at home and abroad? Nigerians suffer untold trauma when they try to renew their passports. It is one of the worst nightmares that a Nigerian faces, far from home. We must write and talk about these things.

To have an international passport is the right of every Nigerian.
It is not a privilege and all these senseless procedures that infringed on the rights of the Nigerian (like sending immigration officials from Nigeria to Sweden and sending sms to people) must be condemned in the strongest ways possible. These procedures are ridiculous, archaic and unacceptable.

It is even appalling considering that the Nordic countries are ranked among the best places to live on earth. The last time I checked it took 24 hours to renew a passport in Sweden.

The Nigerian Immigration officials should be ashamed of their misadventures in Sweden. How do they feel about living in Sweden for 2 weeks (13th to 27th) just for the purpose of “taking pictures” and flying applications for over 5998km?
It will probably take 6 months before the passports are ready for collection. The information about the collection procedure is another source of worry.

For example, information from the embassy reads:

[“This is to inform Nigerians that the passport renewal that took place in June is now available for pick-up by those that participated in the exercise. Those residents in Stockholm can come to the Embassy to pick up their passports. While those residents in Goteborg, Denmark, Finland and Norway should contact their respective Nigerian Union to know when they can go over to them to pick up their passports”]

These delivery procedures do not meet internationally accepted standards and should be amended without delay.

If the Swedish Police can renew the passport of Swedes in 24 hours then it suffixes to state that one of the plans of the Nigerian embassy in Stockholm should be to tap from the wealth of technical knowledge in its environment.

But this will even remain a farther mirage if the Nigerian Immigration Services continues to send its officials to Sweden instead of sending the machines that are needed to do the jobs.

The NIS must know that it can fool some people sometimes but it cannot fool all the people all the time. Enough of these corrupt practices, stop sending your officials to Sweden! It is a stupid and laughable misadventure.

For as long as Nigeria exists, the NIS should perform its functions in Nigeria and let the embassies take over the functions of providing fully for the needs of Nigerians living abroad.

Mobile Phone and Consumers’ Trend in Sweden

/ Adeola / Leave a comment

Adeola Aderounmu

Nigerians love Blackberry. In 2010 when I was using my IPhone in Nigeria, it was not a fancy possession like the Blackberry phone.

A recent survey in Sweden shows a contrary trend. Blackberry is almost absent in the Swedish mobile markets. I mean you can find them in the stores but I can’t remember any advert where Blackberry has been shown on TV or billboards.

HTC, Samsung and IPhones are the dominant smartphones in Sweden. I hope Nigerians will understand that what they fancy is completely different from what swedes fancy.

I am just wondering if Balckberry has any ambition to penetrate the Swedish “crazy love for phone” market.

The most popular phones in Sweden are:

1 Apple   IPhone 4S
2 Samsung   Galaxy S2
3 HTC   Explorer
4 Samsung   Galaxy ace
5 Sony   Ericsson Xperia Ray
6 HTC   Wildfire s
7 Samsung   Galaxy note
8 Sony   Ericsson Xperia arc
9 Sony   Ericsson Xperia active
10 Samsung   Galaxy Xcover

 

Source: Metro Sweden 16-Feb 2012

 

You can see that Blackberry did not even make the 10-list.

It is possible that it will not even make the 50-list. That is how unpopular Blackberry is in Sweden.

Nokia, Made in Finland, is not even on the list of the 10 most popular smartphone in Sweden.

Nokia came out with a series of smartphones recently and maybe they will be able to turn the table around again at the end of this year. But it doesn’t look likely.

 

May 29’s Nigeria Scam Day

/ Adeola / 2 Comments

Adeola Aderounmu

I actually received an invitation to an event to mark the fake Nigeria’s Democracy Day in Stockholm. I could have been a speaker at the event. What a joke?

I salute the organisers of, and speakers at, the events. I saw some notable names and I give my due respect. It takes a lot of negative courage to endorse falsehood and propaganda. If the plan works out Nigeria’s Ambassador to Sweden will grace the occasion. He’s a friend and I wish all of them well.

May 29 is not Nigeria’s Democracy Day. Nigeria became an independent country on October 1st 1960. October 1 is Nigeria’s Democracy Day.

On June 12 1993 the head of Nigeria’s junta and tropical gangster called Babangida annulled the best ever election in Nigeria. I have written about that quite a number of times in earlier blog posts / articles. Hundreds of Nigerians lost their lives in the stalemate and dilemma that followed that senseless annulment.

Pro June 12 activists celebrate June 12 as Nigeria’s Democracy. This is to honour MKO Abiola who died in jail and failed to utilise the mandate that he was given on June 12 1993.

The invitation from NIDO-Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation-was a kind of insult. I’m assuming those who continue to preach May 29 as Nigeria’s day of democracy are either ignorant or foolish or both. We must not allow this lie to reach our children. We must not pass this distortion of our history to the next generation.

The military and the lame civilian government that imposed themselves on us in Nigeria have continued to deceive people at home and abroad. If you search deep to the roots of all these anomalies, you will find a group of people who have no dignity or they lost it, to money.

Yes money. The root of several ills and evils in the global society.

NIDO, what a name? What an evil agenda?

If we want to do something in the name of Nigeria, shouldn’t we move away from the scams and lies? Think out loud again, so these people in NIDO will tell their children, family and friends that May 29 is Nigeria’s Democracy Day? No Greater Shame..!

I will write it down and I will tell my children that October 1st is Nigeria’s Democracy Day. It is the day that we gained our independence from the Colonial Masters. I will tell them I’m so sorry that my generation like the one before mine failed them and destroyed the foundations of the nation.

I will tell my children how Politics of Food and lies, politics of deceit and hatred and extreme selfishness and insanity in public places deprived Nigeria of her rightful place in world history.

I will let them know that I did my best at home and that I continued to do the best I can everywhere I’ve found myself since I left home.

I’ve written a book where they’ll read about Nigeria’s kind of politics and there they will find out that if there is any reason at all to change Nigeria’s Democracy Day, that reason will be June 12.

On that day the expectations of over 100 million Nigerians were deleted eternally by a wicked and evil soul called Babangida.

It is an unforgivable act to distort history.

May 29 as Democracy Day is a scam.

The Glory of Nigeria is lost because of these types of political aberrations.

Nigerians who should know better are thinking more with their stomachs. Their brains are rambling for unsatisfying money and insatiable desires. How can they find peace?

Where is the hope for Nigeria when we gather our intellectuals to the wrong gathering and sell lies to the world?

Why is the cost of gas soaring?

/ Adeola / 1 Comment

Adeola Aderounmu

Slowly and steadily the price of gas has increased and surprisingly it is no longer part of the BIG news. I really don’t know why the price of gas has increased to a record high in Sweden. Gas is now sold for over 12 swedish crowns (12:37) the last time I checked.

Few years ago there was a lot of concern when the prices were hitting 11+ and now that it is even worse there is almost no news about it. It seems that some people are now succeeding in raking more profits for their government or petrochemical industries. Who knows, it could be one way to save the climate. But I doubt the latter since the cost of gas has never been shown to decrease its consumption.

On the contrary people cut down on other expenses and spend the same amount of money or even more on gas when the prices are high. I surely do hope to find the answer to this nagging question in the nearest days: why is the cost of gas on the rise? I hesitated 2 weeks ago before filling the tank of my car. I actually thought the price will fall during the week but I was wrong. So I was compelled to buy gas on a monday.

Still it would be nice to know the origin of this money sucker. Is it due to something happening in the ever turbulent Middle East? What role has the deadly Nigerian Delta got to do in this persistent development? Is it OPEC? Is it some gaseous organisation turning in more profit to salvage the global economic meltdown. As consumers we surely deserved to be carried along.

American man suffers racism in Sweden

/ Adeola / 69 Comments

Posted by Adeola

Original story at Prince 0772

Hi, I’m American and have lived in New York City most of my life. I’ve been living in the richest part of the city and have a successful international job. I am Filipino-American. My friends come from all different backgrounds: white, black, hispanic, indian, asian, you name it. I just moved to Sweden the last 11 months and already have I experienced racism 3 times! It was nothing hostile but I can account for 3 situations and the 3rd one was today, that’s why I searched for “racism in sweden” online. Here were the incidents:

1. I was walking my bike home on a rainy night and 2 drunk Irish guys were smoking outside a pub and cracked jokes in English how I just came off the boat from China. Assuming I didn’t speak English I just said “I’m American. I hear every word.” and walked away.

2. I was riding my bike home and a guy yelled “Nee-How”. Not so bad, but offended to assume I’m Chinese.

3. Today, I went to the supermarket. 5 Swedish kids around 13 years old (I’m 32) were bullying me! I’m 32 and twice their size! How were they bullying me? They just said stupid comments like, “Having a party tonight? Nee-How.”

Again, these incidents were minor. They were just comments. It’s just surprising to me that a culture that I assumed to be so advanced compared to the rest of the world is still struggling with racism issues. I guess Sweden is a bit more homogenous compared to New York. In all 3 occasions I walked away but I feel like educating them. It’s so difficult to have an intellectual conversation when the first impression is ignorance. I sometimes feel like packing my bags and just going back to NYC.

I don’t want to experience this every 4 months while I’m here. But I also want to fight for my belief and teach these people how ignorant they really are. It’s a battle that can’t be solved through violence but education and discussion. I’m starting to believe it’s only an American Dream.