I read this a while ago and was going to comment on it but got busy doing other things.
It is very easy to read and Ignore these kinds of news items but I also believe it is important to highlight absurdity once in a while.
read this
ABUJA, Nigeria (eTN) -- In an apparent move to attract foreign visitors and boost tourism in the country, Nigeria has announced the abolition of the “Letter of Invitation” requirement for visitors to the country.
With this, visitors to the country no longer require “Letter of Invitation” from their host as one of the condition for obtaining visiting or business visas from the country’s embassies and high commissions.
This was disclosed by the spokesperson for the Nigerian Immigration Service, King Ekpedeme. According to him, the new move was sequel to approval by the Nigerian minister for Internal Affairs, Magaji Muhammed.
Ekpedeme further said that the Comptroller General of Immigration, Chukurah Udeh, has assured Nigerians and the international community that the immigration service will continue to introduce necessary reforms in order to support the federal government’s desire in making Nigeria a preferred destination for foreign direct investment and tourism as well as meet global practises in migration management.
Nigeria abolishes requirement for visitors
By Moses Sawacha
The funny thing about this is you could actually walk into Abuja Nano Hilton someday , see a big conference taking place and hear a big shot from the immigration service utter such nonsense.
Letter of Invitation to Nigeria has never been a hindrance.
Lack of amenities, armed robbery, corruption and general insecurity etc are more of the true issues than any letter.
Insisting on the letter of invitation etc was just in response to other foreign governments doing the same with our nationals. Abolishing that stupid rule means someone is probably thinking, right now lets focus on the real issue.
I digress now... this story reminds me of a time I took a couple of foreign friends to the Yankari game reserve in Bauchi , after bragging to my friends all the way from Abuja - Bauchi about how nice the reserve was and how so much effort had been made recently to boost tourism and improve the resort as a popular destination, we arrived and the main gates were blocked.
After about 30Min's of waiting around the guards show up , we try to get in and they present us with the guest book which we needed to fill out before entering .(The guest book had a column for Nationalities)
As my friends were foreign nationals , they stated this in the guest book and the next thing I knew the guards were demanding to see passports before the gates could be opened.
(the gates of Yankari )
At this point (90 Min's ) at the gates of Yankari game reserve I lost it completely. In hausa ,Yoruba Ibo and pidgin I decided to educate all the guards and remind them it was better to open your gates to tourist, the importance of tourism and how that important book was someones brilliant idea in a bygone era for keeping track of the types of guests that visited the reserve and their countries of origin.
To cut a long story short, a quick visit from their boss (thanks to MTN) convinced them I had a point.
We spent 3 days at the resort and those guards became our friends /tour guides I had the greatest time in the world and saw an elephant in the wild for the first time in Nigeria.
In all honesty those guys never knew any different, if the big man in charge had simply taken the time to do his job, an old rule from a very different era would have been replaced by something more appropriate for a reserve trying to regain its past glory.
It's nice
Posted by: fish_hfd | June 29, 2007 at 06:00 AM