Dear Mr. Fulvio Rustico,
I hope this meets you well, Mr. Ambassador. We have not met in person but I have read a little bit about you and I also know something about the reasons why Ambassadors, Heads of Missions or Consuls-General are sent out to foreign countries. I know that one of those reasons is for the ambassador to be the good face of her country and a hand of friendliness towards the host country. Last Thursday, at the Embassy of Italy, the face I encountered was a very ugly one. As for the hand, it was on the trigger of an Italian security agent or official and I suspect he can fire his weapon anytime. He moved his face too close to mine and told me clearly, “This is Italy. You are on Italian soil. This is not Nigeria and you need to leave.”
Mr. Ambassador, I am an illiterate. I’m not schooled and your security man had to remind me. But he’s not different from the security men at the gates of the Editors’ House and the ones at the gates of The Sun Newspapers and New Telegraph Newspapers; trust me. However, since I am not in the habit of bandying words with security men, black, brown or white, I walked away, upset and insulted but determined not to descend to the level of a security guard in Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria.
Your Excellency, I know that the Embassy of Italy is Italy but does your security guard know that threatening an unarmed woman does not reflect excellently on his ambassador? Is that how he threatens Mrs. Grazia Belanova? Was he told at any point during his briefing that the Nigerian passport is the property of the Nigerian government? You may need to ask for the tape of my brief stay at your Embassy to see that at the point he walked up to me, I was talking to someone else, asking for direction to the public relations unit, if your Embassy had any like the United States of America and the United Kingdom diplomatic missions in Nigeria. Indeed, it will do the Embassy of Italy plenty of good to have a Public Affairs Unit because right now, all it has are officers who switch off their phones when you ask for services or security men who think they are tin gods. What did your little security man think the Editor-in-Chief of a newspaper and President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors was going to do at the Embassy? Throw an explosive? The whole scenario would have been hilarious if it wasn’t so insulting.
All I had gone there to do was follow up on the e-mail I had sent the previous day seeking to retrieve my passport with or without the visa I paid for so I could lead a delegation of editors to China. The Chinese Embassy was on standby to process my visa in 24 hours so we could meet up the already scheduled official visit. I already knew I needed a minimum of 15 days to get this visa but my passport had been in your Embassy for 22 days already! Still, I understood that Italy had to do what Italy had to do but did that have to include rudeness? All I wanted was my passport back and my passport was my major means of identification even for bank transactions. All I intended was to spend a few days to rest and do some tourist activities in Italy on my way from the Global Editors Network event in Austria. Now, I missed the Austria event and the China visit has been postponed because the passport of the leader of the delegation is in Italy, being guarded by a rude security man.
Sir, was I asking for too much? Is that passport no longer the property of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, where I am a respected citizen? Does Italy not return passports? I do not begrudge Italy and its decision to spend a whole month doing background check on one applicant but I know if any officers were going on foot to my hometown to ask my traditional ruler questions about my character, it would not have taken 22 days. Maybe I was expecting too much from the Italian Embassy. There are minimum standards and best practices when it comes to consular services. It is not in my place to set those standards for your Embassy. However, I’m disappointed at Italy and its consulate in Lagos, Nigeria.
It was supposed to be a simple and straightforward process. I was to fill the forms, pay the required fees and do biometrics. The money was accepted by a smiling officer but when it came to attending to my enquiries, everybody, and I mean everybody sir, had a long face. Doors were shut in my face. Nobody was willing to help. Nobody was willing to answer my questions, not on phone or in person.
And I am wondering, why was everybody smiling when I wanted to pay for this Italian visa and then had no smile, no kind or reassuring word when all I wanted was to ask questions about the whereabouts of my passport? It is strange, really, Your Excellency. Was there something special about my money and then something wrong about asking for what is mine? In Nigeria, when you pay for goods or services and the provider shuts the door in your face when you ask for what you paid for, we have a very bad name for it but I won’t burden you with that today. All I need from you is to ask your people some soul-searching questions.
Please accept the assurances of my respect for what is right and acceptable, always.
Re –Season of national stupidity
You are always on point. You have once again hilariously crafted your article in a way that it conveyed serious message of national importance. However, I still support the dissolution of this forced and thoughtless marriage if that will solve our problem.
-Eziefuna S.
Funke, your write up, “Season of national stupidity” is just right on point. More ink to your pen. From Dr Nwachukwu C.O. (Aba, Abia state)
The Federal Government should be warned that they are responsible for the ethnic hatred in the country. We had warned severally that the FG should insist that vendors and newspaper distributors should be warned by Police Commissioners and DPOs to stop selling illegal publications on Biafra which use derogatory names to refer to northerners and fellow Nigerians.
– Feyi Akeeb Kareem
Your elucidation on “Season of national stupidity” and the distorted mentality of our grooming warlords on June 18, 2017 elicits tears of real nationalists of this nation. We pray that their little gods will ingrain into their hearts the implication of the condiments they are gathering for the soup they want to cook. Surely nobody is thinking.
-Prof. Humphrey Ogoegbunam, founder, National Unity and Peace Corps. [email protected]
Re – Painful Climb to the 36th floor
With this, Nigerians will begin to appreciate the fact that we can reach the Promised Land if we could look at things critically and objectively as this write up suggested.
– Sir A.B.C. Uzoma. (Los Angeles, California, U S A)
You just focused on a few things you believe Buhari has done well. You didn’t mention the failed promises. As long as nepotism, lawlessness, injustice and aiding of corruption remain part of government, there will never be a 36th floor.
-Prince Chido, Port Harcourt
The journey might be painful initially but with determination and perseverance. I strongly believe that there will be light at the end of the tunnel. Let us not forget where we were yesterday and where we are today. I am very optimistic things will get better. Let’s change our way of doing things from analogue to digital because we can’t do things the same way and expect a different result. Nothing good comes easy. We must pay the price. I am really touched by the write-up.
– Precious Orok
Last week at Benin, I bought a basin of garri that used to be N2800 for N12,000. I used to pay N1550 as fare to the East. Last week, I paid N7600. I have looked at the past, and compared with the present. I’m not sure I see any sign that makes me feel encouraged.
-08033014702
You made my day. Nigerians want immediate gains that do not last. I prefer to climb patiently to the 36th floor. No other time to do it than now.
-Muhammadu Rabiu Ada, Gwagwalada, Abuja