Kasali Obanoyen
Building 8046 ROSWELL ROAD, SANDY SPRINGS , GA 30350
200 SUTE 204 is tucked in a tree’s canopied stretch of a busy road and an affluent neighbourhood, calm and clean.
Call it a scion of the Nigerian Consulate in Georgia. You will not be wrong. Operationally, all issues about Passports are attended to in this specifically manicured building for such operations.
The writer was told by the professional and courteous staff on duty, on the importance of the new directive, on writer’s quest to secure a visa for a planned trip to Nigeria
The evidently trained staffer knows his onions, and took his time to explain to this writer, amongst other chats , that it’s real and that what people are saying is real , it’s better to do the needful and avoid unnecessary hiccups during a trip home.
He went to say that that , “this is a private enterprise licensed to offer some consular services for Nigerians in this region” , and that the procedure is not new, and that it’s the renewed enforcement for compliance that is creating the fear , and seeking “clarifications help . He did not want to go to the poliics of the renewed enforcement processes.
The writer respected his position!
The Kenyan staff did well as a staffer who asked for all the required documents after I had submitted an online form , while he made a copy of writer’s Nigerian passport, took a passport size photo of writer , cleared writer to make the payment set forth . The writer was charged $501 only , the same amount “zelled” to a conspicuously displayed phone number, and a receipt was duly issued on the spot. Clean and transparent, the writer observed.
Asked if he had a supervisor on site, he was livid to say, my boss led a team of staffers to Tennessee , for consular outreach, and attended to Nigerians in the realm of service the enterprise is registered for.
Moments later, his boss called the writer to acknowledge the payment made, and he confirmed that the writer will get a 5-year multiple visas on the non Nigerian passport submitted. And that writer could pick up his visa in 4-5 days ( visa request was made around 11am on Saturday, Feb 8th , 2025 , picked on Wednesday , Feb 12th, 2025 or so, ) with a caveat that the cool headed staff will call writer if the visa is ready for pick up before the Wednesday he mentioned.
A feat needing applause !
He, too, was super professional on the phone with writer, a rare professionalism you don’t see in many Nigerian establishments.
As writer looked and listened well to other vibes from those who came for the issue, and pick up of visas issued, what was on everyone’s mind was that Nigerians in the diaspora , or in the region are not sensitized at all about the development that could potentially impact negatively on the travel follow those on the road going to Nigeria .
If truth be told , it’s NOT that office that should do the needful in engagements and information dissemination of such critical components of why the Nation has representatives all over the place for consular efficiency , and stress free service delivery!
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