Buhari blamed for senseless Nigeria passport crises
Buhari |
For some time now, Nigerians trying to acquire passports so they can travel out of the country for various reasons have been having a hard time of doing so as the Nigeria Immigration Service which is responsible for issuing passports gives them a flabbergasting excuse: passport booklets are not available.
Speaking under condition of
anonymity so as not to be victimised, a Nigerian man who’s applied for a
passport and doesn’t know when he’ll receive it, told Oseyiza Oogbodo Blog that
“this passport crises is just senseless and I blame Buhari squarely for it. I
mean, how can a country not be able to issue its passport to its citizens? If a
government in power can’t handle the extremely simple task of issuing
passports, then it’s obvious that government doesn’t know what it’s doing, that
government is incompetent, and that’s calling a spade a spade.
“Let’s be candid here. What’s a
passport? It’s just pieces of paper, and paper is one of the most available
products in the world so why should passport booklets be unavailable? I already
knew there will be passport issues when I saw Buhari on TV approving a new
ten-year passport for seventy thousand naira.
“When I saw him doing that, I was
disappointed immediately and remain disappointed because this is a country having
issues with the labour force over a minimum wage of thirty thousand naira yet Buhari
approves a passport for seventy thousand naira.
“The implication to me is that people
are being encouraged to take to crime because a passport’s amount shouldn’t be
more than the minimum wage. It shouldn’t even be close to it in its amount. I’m
sure that in sensibly-led countries, their passports are very affordable unlike
here in Nigeria where even the passport said to be standard is thirty thousand
naira, equivalent of the minimum wage the government is still wrangling over.
“As far as I’m concerned, the
Nigerian passport shouldn’t be more than five hundred naira, after all, it’s
just paper, and even textbooks which are more important to human beings are not
even as expensive as the passport price of seventy thousand naira.
“So I do blame Buhari for this
passport issue because I recall there’s a story that says when Murtala Muhammed
was head of state, he said the passport was mandatory for every Nigerian, that
it was a right, not a privilege, and the passport was actually being delivered
to people in their homes unlike now where you pay through the nose for it and yet
you’re told there are no booklets to make it for you.”
Comments
Post a Comment