Visas and stuff
So I've been to London to arrange my Visa and I will be organising my flight to return very soon.
Did everybody see that Ghana reached the second round in the World Cup? Even though they now face Brazil and very likely the end of the road, it's a huge triumph and reward for them and I wish them all the best, and hope they can put on a good show on tuesday.
In other news, I saw this story yesterday about the Nigerian Information Ministry alerting Nigerians travelling to the UK about an increase in robberies and muggings perpetrated on Nigerian visitors.
Most of the press coverage I've read seems to treat this with some amusement, and I believe are only printing it for the giggles. To be honest it did make me smile, especially this quote:
"I can count off the top of my head 10 Nigerians, both highly placed and not so highly placed, who've been at the mercy of tricksters and robbers both at Heathrow Airport in London and the streets of London"
Information Minister Frank Nweke
Now we get some figures... 10 Nigerians. Ten? Not even a whole football team. I hope that's not the figure that prompted the advice. I mean, according to the 2001 census there are 68,907 People Born in Nigeria living in London alone.
The serious reality as all sane people know, which I think is what the Information Minister was trying to point out, is that every country on earth is infested with thieving scum of their own, and perhaps Nigeria does get singled out a bit too often. The vast majority of the victims of robberies and fraud perpetrated in Nigeria are Nigerians themselves, and it's totally understandable why all Nigerians would want to distance themselves from that label. For reference take a look at the UK and US government advice to citizens travelling to Nigeria, I agree with about 99% of it, although I have not been a victim of anything personally but do know Many people who have. I have been a victim of a pick-pocket in the UK.
Technorati Tags: Lagos, Nigeria, Lagos, Nigeria, visa, UK, fraud, Ghana
posted by Aaron Rowe @ 10:17 PM
3 Comments:
Hey Aaron,
Just checking your blog... 1st time in a while, umm I definately need to do some serious updating on mine!
Just finished watching the Ghana match, they really played well and had some real good chances at goal. It's ashame they weren't up against Switzerland like the Ukrane yesterday... if they had, they'd probably have won!
The UK and the US and other countries can warn their citizens about travelling to Nigeria, but when Nigeria warns her citizens about travelling to the UK, it becomes a joke and a laughing matter.
Anonymous,
It is bad that such things are a made a joke, but bear in mind how most people only hear of Nigeria through internet and fax scams.
Add to that the fact that the crimes that are warned against by NHC in London, are crimes that happen in every city in the world, most especially tourist rich areas, and you can see that it appears that it's a lot of pots and kettles on both sides.
As an aside, I was interested to note while collecting my visa at the Nigeria High Commission in London, they were posting a lot of signs to warn people to only hand over their documents to Nigerian High Commission Staff wearing Identity cards, due to fraud. It happens everywhere.
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