Ordeal of Nigerian Visa Applicants.

By Emmanuel Ayomide-Praise (@eapthecolossus)

I write to join several well-meaning Nigerians to protest the unfair and unjust treatment of Nigerian visa applicants by many foreign embassies and high commissions in Nigeria. Among the reasons why every country in the world has embassies and consulates in other countries are, among other things, to strengthen diplomatic ties with such countries, facilitate mutual trade and cooperation and easily enable the application, processing and possible issuance of visas to citizens of those countries. 

However, the scenario in Nigeria is the direct opposite. 

While many foreign embassies and consulates in Nigeria seek to strengthen diplomatic relations and encourage mutual trade and cooperation, it seems that there is also a conscious and deliberate effort to make it impossible for Nigerian citizens to obtain travel visas to their countries, even when they have legitimate reasons to do so and when all visa application requirements have been met, by putting all kinds of impediments to the issuance of such visas. 

A case in point, which I have experienced personally, is that of the Serbian embassy in Nigeria, located in Maitama District, Abuja. As a football agent and manager of aspiring professional footballers in Nigeria, I facilitated and received a letter of invitation(LOI) from a 2nd division club in Montenegro, Fudbalski Klub (FK) Zabjelo, Podgorica, for four Nigerian grassroots footballers. 

Because all Montenegrin visa applications in Nigeria are handled by the Serbian embassy in Abuja on behalf of the nation of Montenegro (Serbia-Montenegro was an independent nation until Montenegro got its full independence in 2006), we were asked to apply for the visas at the Serbian embassy, Abuja.

A copy of the LOI from FK Zabjelo (which is directly affiliated to the Football Association of Montenegro and consequently to FIFA) was sent by email directly to the embassy stating clearly that the players were being invited strictly for trials with the club and that feeding, accommodation and local transport were going to be provided by it. 

With this in mind, we asked the embassy for specific requirements for visa applications of footballers going on trials and these requirements were clearly stated thus: official letter of invitation from the club; supporting letter from the player's football federation; passport photos; visa forms fully-filled and N13,000 visa fee per person. Since the stated trial period was between June 24 and July 24 and the LOI having been issued on June 21, I rushed to Abuja to apply for the visas on Thursday June 23, 2011, trying as much as possible to beat the deadline. Since the specific type of visa was a non-appearance one, I was mandated by the four players to apply for the visas, submit and then pick up all relevant documents, on their behalf. 

All submitted documents were accepted by the embassy after thorough vetting and verification having also paid a fee of N52,000 visa fees for four persons. It is important to note that on the visa forms and receipts issued by the Serbian embassy as well as on its official website, http://www.nigeria.mfa.rs, nowhere was it stated that the visa application fees were non-refundable, like some embassies usually do. After submission of documents and visa application, a Nigerian staff of the embassy, who simply identified herself as Mrs. Mohammed, told me that the visas could not be issued immediately but that they were going to be issued after 10 working days. 

In the process of visa application and submission of documents, I noticed a rush by the staff of the embassy to receive the payment of the visa fees and to quickly issue a receipt. I noted the fact that perhaps a lot of foreign embassies look forward to receiving visa applications fees from Nigerian citizens while some others like the Chinese embassy in Abuja and Lagos will only issue you a receipt for payment of visa fee, after your visa has been approved and is set to be issued. 

A few days after the submission of the visa applications when I called the embassy on phone to enquire about the progress of processing, a Nigerian staff advised that we should call the inviting club FK Zabjelo in Montenegro to appear before the immigration police in Podgorica to clarify its position and thus obtain visa approval, suggesting that this will hasten the process of visa approval, which usually takes 10 working days. 

In obedience, I asked the Team Manager to make a date with the immigration police in Podgorica to clarify the position of the club and justify the basis of invitation, which he promptly obliged. Relevant approvals were sought from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro by the club while a call was also put through by the club's team  manager to the Consular of the Serbian embassy in Abuja, to clarify all issues, a move which the embassy itself acknowledged. 

I was thus taken aback when at the expiration of the stated 10 working days, I called the embassy to confirm the issuance of the visas, only to be told that the applications had been refused. Probing further to find specific reasons for visa refusal, a staff claimed no official reason was given for visa refusal stating only that the application had just been rejected outright. In addition, there was no written or official explanation stating reasons for visa refusal and possible grounds of appeal. I found this very unprofessional. 

For a country that says it is on its road to "strengthening its relationship with the Federal Republic of Nigeria," it amazes me that the same country's diplomatic mission in Nigeria will deny Nigerian citizens who have established legitimate grounds for visa issuance visas to travel to its country, without any logical or justifiable reasons. 

In the same vein, it has been noted that many foreign embassies and diplomatic missions in Nigeria seek flimsy and trivial reasons to refuse Nigerian citizens travel visas, even after all visa application conditions have been met and without any attempt to refund visa application fees of such denied Nigerians. I dare say, therefore, that many foreign embassies and diplomatic missions in Nigeria are nothing but business centres where brisk business is done through the purchase of visa application forms and payment of visa application fees, which are in most cases, non-refundable. 

It is expedient therefore for the Federal Government, as well as its Ministry of Internal Affairs, to look into the activities of foreign embassies, high commissions and consulates in Nigeria, as regards the treatment of Nigerian citizens in an unfair and sometimes undignifying manner. It has been severally reported how Nigerian citizens are made to queue long hours to apply for visas or stay under the sun continuously for days to submit visa application documents. I challenge the National Assembly to pass a law preventing foreign embassies from charging visa fees when such visa applications have not been reviewed, as this has become a veritable way of generating income by the embassies, ripping off many Nigerians in the process. 

(This article was first published in the PUNCH on Wednesday 20th July 20011). http://odili.net/news/source/2011/jul/20/802.html

Emmanuel Ayomide-Praise is a Nigerian journalist, blogger and TV/Radio host. Email:eapgold@gmail.com. Twitter:@eapthecolossus, http://ayomidepraise.blogspot

10 Golden Secrets Of Young Achievers

By  Emmanuel Ayomide Praise(@eapthecolossus)

They define to themselves precisely what they want to do.

• They set demanding but not unattainable time-scales in which to do it.

• They convey clearly what they want done and by when.

• They are prepared to discuss how things should be done and will listen to and take advice. But once the course of action has been agreed they stick to it unless events dictate a change of direction.

• They are single-minded about where they want to go, showing perseverance and determination in the face of adversity.

• They demand high performance from themselves and are somewhat callous in expecting high performance from everyone else.

• They work hard and work well under pressure. In fact, it brings out the best in them.

• They tend to be dissatisfied with the status quo.

• They are never completely satisfied with their own performance and continually question themselves.

• They will take calculated risks.

• They snap out of setbacks without being personally shattered and quickly regroup their forces and their ideas.

• They are decisive in the sense that they are able to quickly to sum up situations, define alternative courses of actions, determine the preferred course and convey to their subordinates what needs to be done.

• They continually monitor their own and their subordinates’ performance so that any deviation can be corrected in good time.

• They are creative.

 (This article was first published in the Nation Newspapers on the 14th of October 2007).

Emmanuel Ayomide-Praise is a Nigerian journalist, blogger and TV/Radio host. Email:eapgold@gmail.com. Twitter:@eapthecolossus, http://ayomidepraise.blogspot

Building Great Businesses In Nigeria:Lessons From Jimoh Ibrahim.

By  Emmanuel Ayomide-Praise (@eapthecolossus)

Nigeria is blessed with many outstanding capitalists and wealthy industrialists who own multi-billion dollar conglomerates with assets in excess of trillions of naira and who collectively employ thousands of Nigerians across their various business operations, thereby contributing remarkably to the size, scope and direction of our nation’s economy.

Notable among these lot are Aliko Dangote, founder and chairman of the Dangote Group, which holds large-scale interests in the commodities, agriculture, real estate and petroleum sub-sectors of our economy, and is now ranked by Forbes magazine as Africa’s richest man with a net-worth of US$20.8 Billion, as at November 2013, Otunba Mike Adenuga, the telecommunications magnate whose operations now span across the West African hub and who is worth US$4.3 Billion, as of March 2013, as well as the youthful Femi Otedola, founder and CEO of Forte Oil Plc, who was  ranked by Forbes in 2009 with a net-worth of US$1.2Billion.

However, among these enviable lot, none is as inspiring, for me, as Jimoh Ibrahim, the 47 year old lawyer turned oil baron from Ondo State, South-West, Nigeria, who himself is now said to be worth some hundreds of millions of dollars, and is the founder of a large conglomerate in Nigeria, which has interests in the insurance, hospitality, oil and gas and media sectors of the Nigerian economy.

Unlike Dangote or Otedola, Ibrahim is a man who had a humble beginning as he was born without a silver spoon and came from a very rough background with a lot of deprivation in his growing up days. Reportedly from a polygamous family, he managed to, against all odds, obtain admission into the University and eventually graduated as a barrister at law from the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University in 1991.

So while the Dangotes and Otedolas of this world had the privileges of being born with silver spoons (Dangote, being from a wealthy Northern industrial family and Otedola, the son of a former civilian governor of Lagos state), Ibrahim had no such luxuries but had an intense desire and a strong conviction to become successful in life, concluding in his mind that obtaining a University degree held the only promise to a better life and a rewarding future.

The story of this great entrepreneur is one that I think that every young Nigerian and aspiring entrepreneur must pay close attention to as it could serve as the much needed inspiration to giant strides in business as well as great accomplishments in life. After obtaining his Bachelor’s degree in law from OAU, Ibrahim saw that waiting to acquire working experience as an attorney by interning at an established law firm, as is common practice amongst many young lawyers in Nigeria today, could take many years so he decided to specialize on taxation, which was an area of interest to him during his undergraduate days and was even the subject of some of his dissertation papers.

With this wealth of information on the practice of taxation in Nigeria, Ibrahim, unlike many fresh University graduates in Nigeria, some of whom believe securing a paid employment first after graduating from school could be the only way to charting a successful future, set out by conducting trainings and workshops on taxation for local and state governments and later the federal government of Nigeria, becoming in the process a nationally acclaimed tax consultant.

Honing his expertise in the areas of tax administration, reform and financial management and later obtaining his Masters degrees in Public Administration and international taxation from OAU  and Harvard University in America respectively, Ibrahim was at one time chief executive consultant to the federal government of Nigeria on petroleum tax payment, collection and monitoring, member, Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, consultant to the IMF on tax reform in Croatia and Lithuania and also a key member of the team that designed tax reform for the state of Bangladesh.

Needless to say that by the time he turned 30, while some of his peers may still have been searching for jobs, Jimoh Ibrahim was already a multi-millionaire! So when he decided to set up his conglomerate in 2003, after failing woefully in an attempt to become Executive Governor of Ondo State on the platform of the old All People’s Party (APP), he was well armed with a rich experience of how business works in Nigeria, how government policy is formulated and implemented and how to raise sufficient capital to start a business.

For many budding entrepreneurs, what are the lessons to learn on building great businesses from the journey and strategy of Barrister Ibrahim? For me, one of such is that when planning to start a business, going out to raise all of the capital required may not be the most paramount thing and may even amount to putting the cart before the horse, sometimes. This is because, in a country like Nigeria, dreaming of raising capital to start a business using bank loans or debt equity, without having grown the business to a substantial state where sound financial management and ambitious growth plans can be adequately demonstrated to the financial institutions or angel investors, may seem like a mirage!

Looking at the phenomenal growth of some of Mr. Ibrahim’s business ventures, one is keen to note some of the principles which he has imbibed, which have contributed in no small measure to the growth of those businesses today. Some of these include sound financial management, persistence, short, medium and long-term planning, effective utilization of credit as well as prompt repayment of such credit when taken.

However, while his passion for building and growing large business organizations that would provide gainful employment to thousands of teeming Nigerian youths while positively impacting our economy must be commended, it remains to be seen what is the clear corporate social responsibility (CSR) thrust of some of these businesses and how they seek to create better lives and impact communities they operate in and the people living in them, other than by just creating employment.

It is interesting to note that while many large corporations and giant-sized businesses in Nigeria like those of Ibrahim, Dangote or Otedola make lots of profits through the patronage of the generality of Nigerians and even repatriate such profits home at little or no cost, as in the case of multi-nationals, only few of them do very little to give back to society through scholarships, schemes and life-changing programs that can benefit the whole of the populace. Very few Nigerian wealthy capitalists or industrialists like Ibrahim own notable foundations like the ones set up by Bill Gates, the world’s richest man and founder of Microsoft and his wife, as well as those established by remarkable American businessmen like Henry Ford or John D Rockefeller.

Another important point worthy of note amongst Nigeria’s most successful businessmen is a lack of a system or structure where adequate mentoring can be provided to build an ecosystem of great entrepreneurs and remarkable young businessmen in Nigeria. To this end, many budding entrepreneurs are often left confused about how to go about setting their own businesses, what tools to use and what to discard and how to tap into the brains of many of these great entrepreneurs that have gone ahead. It is through efforts like these that great Nigerian entrepreneurs like Ibrahim, Dangote, Otedola or Adenuga can leave a worthy legacy because as far as many Nigerians are concerned, the legacies of some these men still remain largely unclear if not outrightly unknown or undefined!

Emmanuel Ayomide-Praise is a Nigerian journalist, blogger and TV/Radio host. Email:eapgold@gmail.com. Twitter:@eapthecolossus, http://ayomidepraise.blogspot

 

Ashimolowo And Forty Years In Ministry!

By Emmanuel Ayomide-Praise. (@eapthecolossus)

It is not very often that we in Nigeria celebrate our spiritual leaders, change agents, outstanding sportsmen and women, public figures, most beautiful women, human and civil rights activists, remarkable entrepreneurs and wealthy capitalists who are most often than not large employers of labour and heavy contributors to the growth and success of our economy.
One of such outstanding and remarkable Nigerian achievers is Pastor Matthew Ashimilowo, senior Pastor and founder of the multi-faceted Kingsway International Christian Centre(KICC),London, United Kingdom, that was founded in the very early nineties and is now present and active in several countries in Africa and the USA, touching thousands of lives in the four-walls of her Churches and impacting many millions of others across the nations of the earth through its Satellite TV broadcasts and expansive media outreach. Very few individuals in the world, black or white, Asian or Caucasian, have the influence of Reverend Ashimolowo on leadership, change, public life, governance, success and personal development. Yet at about 63 years of age, he remains one of the most unassuming ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ that is known today, the world over.
Born on the 17th of March 1952 to a Nigerian Muslim Soldier and growing mostly in the Northern part of Nigeria, Ashimolowo converted to Christianity from Islam at the age of 22, after the death of his father. While i know very little about the circumstances of his youth around this period of his life, i am of the opinion that perhaps the humble clergyman may have been confused, frustrated and exasperated after his father's death, hence the need to give his life to Christ, an encounter which undoubtedly has made him a global and iconic figure in our world today, and possibly one of the most influential black persons on the planet.
Pastor Ashimolowo himself has often talked about how his father served in the Nigerian Army and consequently lost his life during the Biafran war with his corpse being abandoned on a bridge (where it seemed there may have been a battle between the Nigerian and Biafran Armies with his father being shot in the process) without any official communication whatsoever from the Army leadership or the Federal Government of the time.
Ashimolowo began to grow in his new-found faith in Jesus Christ around the mid-seventies, enlisting in Bible College to obtain his seminarian credentials and later became ordained as a pastor in the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria in 1974, where he would later meet his wife, Yemisi, with whom he has been happily married for more than three decades. Now, the story of Ashimolowo's work with the Foursquare Church in Nigeria has often been told, retold and misconstrued. I have read many untrue stories, especially on the internet, where it was said that he was sent to pastor a branch of the Four Church in London, United kingdom but after a few years he decided to go and set-up his own pentecostal denomination, thereby splitting the church he was pastoring.
Nothing can be farther from the truth! It is clearly obvious that at the time that Ashimolowo became an ordained spiritual shepherd at the Foursquare church in Nigeria back in the 1970s, he could never have dreamt of pastoring a branch of the Foursquare church outside Nigeria, let alone founding an independent denomination of his own overseas. Ashimilowo was clearly working hard and focusing on his ministerial assignment and must have had no such plans on his mind!
It must therefore be a combination of providence, or call it, the hand of God, that was upon his life, like the Biblical David, who never dreamt of killing Goliath , the uncircumcised Philistine, for intimidating the entire nation of Israel for more than 60 days, let alone become King-elect of Israel at the tender age of 17. David was only on an errand to deliver much-needed foodstuff to his older siblings at the warfront when God's hand found him! In the same way, Reverend Ashimolowo could never thought of pastoring a church in London. This was indeed the hand of God! Looking at it from another angle, all of these can also be attributable to his hard work, perseverance and faithfulness to God and to those in the Foursquare denomination who placed several pastoral responsibilities on his young shoulders, all of whom he was able to handle effectively, posting outstanding results in the process.
Let us not forget that in the 1970s and 80s, there was no motivation for anybody to become a pastor, clergyman or a priest; not in these days of fat offerings, sacrificial giving, seeds, cars and houses for pastors and their families as well as private jets for foreign missionary trips or international outreaches. Not that i was born in the 70s. Even at that, i can clearly recall that most, if not all, of the pastors that i grew up to know in the 80s and 90s were mostly poor clergymen who brandished the bible like a logo or an emblem but had nothing to show for it, so i can imagine what it was to have been a pastor in the 70s and 80s as the lives of many pastors and clergymen were always synonymous with poverty.
Well to the issue of pastors flying private jets, it's not that there is anything wrong with it. I see absolutely no wrong with pastors owning private jets, driving fast cars, living in expansive houses, wearing the best suits, and enjoying amazing family vacations, because as it is said in the Holy Scriptures, those who work in the vineyard must be the first partakers of the fruits, especially when they work faithfully! Like i said earlier, opting to become a minister of the gospel  in those days of Ashimolowo's youth was akin to being cursed or bringing your family into public shame and ridicule as anyone who chose to become one was considered a failure, neer-do-well or even a renegade so if people like him answered the call into ministry and carried their cross for around 40 years, and they have held on steadfastly to their call and to the God who called them, it should be no cause for alarm that that same God has duly rewarded them.
Ashimolowo did not just suddenly become a pastor at the Foursquare church in London! He was found faithful during several years of hard work, commitment and perseverance which i believe took him across several of their parishes across Nigeria and it was during this process that the vacuum of a more experienced and faithful pastor became available at the London parish. This doggedness and never-say-die attitude was what ensured that the man of God was duly rewarded and sent to pastor a church overseas. How shall we also forget that he reportedly met this church in London with a sizable number of congregants and consequently grew it to become a large congregation running into several hundred of members within a couple of years, which is a remarkable achievement in a city like London.
It was imperative that after pastoring this flock for many years and later receiving the call of God to start the KICC ministry, a substantial number of members in his previous congregation, having been touched by his years of impactful ministry, felt the need to go with him and support his new work of ministry. It is obvious that Ashimolowo parted at his previous denomination in an amicable and Christ-like manner and this is clearly evident in the fact that even today, after more than two decades of leaving the Foursquare church, he is still often sought-after by this same denomination, as a keynote speaker  at some of their leadership conferences and annual conventions.
This dedication to his previous work of ministry explains the rapid growth and expansion of  his own ministry which reportedly grew to over 8000 members in less than 10 years, making it the largest single Pentecostal   denomination in the whole of Europe and thereby confirming the words of Scripture which say clearly that he who is faithful in a little will a have a much greater committed into his own hands.
One other often criticised realities of his ministry, especially in the Western media, is his prosperity message ,which is nothing new from the standpoint of the Bible. The argument about the prosperity message is a never-ending one which i am not prepared to delve into other than to say that as i am pro, and not anti-prosperity, i already stand in a position of bias, a position which i don't attend to abandon! So to everyone who believes that christians are supposed to suffer on earth and then enjoy or get rewarded in heaven, let me just plainly say that i beg to disagree! Those who accept Christ and follow him faithfully are not given a promise of lack, poverty or hardship by Him but that of prosperity, protection and blessings, with a mixture of persecutions here and there and some measure of afflictions and temptations, which the believer is supposed to resist and overcome.
While it is written that many are the "afflictions" of the righteous ,all of which the Lord delivers him from, it was never said that many is the "poverty" of the righteous, but only the 'afflictions' so the erroneous assumption that the believer is supposed to live in lack or poverty is against Biblical doctrine in its entirety. It is difficult for many secular thinkers to accept that Jesus was never poor as they often misconstrue some biblical texts or instances. If Jesus was poor, nobody would have been willing to cast lots (or in latter day terms, take bets) for the His coat because nobody wants to take bets for a poor man's clothing. Let us also remember that while Judas stole so much from the accounts of Jesus' ministry, which were enough to have rendered it bankrupt, the ministry never went broke, much to his own astonishment!
Let us also consider the fact that on one occasion when Jesus asked Peter and the other apostles if after leaving their secular pursuits and businesses they ever lacked anything and their response was no. We cannot discountenance the fact that Peter, with his impatient and temperamental nature, could have left his fishing business to follow Jesus, if he wasn't sure that his needs would be met and he would have more than enough to take care of his family! It is doubtful that he would have agreed to follow the Messiah if his financial and material needs were not guaranteed to be met.
Finally, think about the fact that Jesus was never at any time financially embarrassed, for when the tax collectors came to him and the disciples to demand for tax payments, the Master simply commanded his disciples to go and take money from the mouth of the fish, which they promptly did, thereby averting any form of ridicule, from the pharisees and chief priest. Ashimolowo is therefore not out of order in preaching prosperity as this is a doctrine of Scripture which was also clearly expounded by Jesus himself. Many of Jesus' parables centered on themes such as money, financial planning, investment and the likes! Likewise, God takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servants and not in their poverty!
Ashimolowo has accomplished so much in his 40 years on the pulpit. However, much still needs to be done. Having celebrated four decades of giant strides on the pulpit in the year 2014, it is important for him to look into the future because there are so many challenges that lie ahead of him. The Man of God must put his influence across the religious and secular arenas to good use by addressing some of the leadership deficit pervasive in several African countries where he is so often invited as a keynote speaker at various leadership conferences and religious conventions, because one of the most fundamental problems bedeviling the continent of Africa is the lack of quality leadership and the absence of good governance, and this seriously needs to be tackled.
He has noted quite recently at a fora in Nigeria that God is calling him into a new phase of ministry which basically involves leadership empowerment and development. On this new-found mandate of his he must not falter neither must he lose focus. He must continue to speak boldly and fearlessly to political leaders, change agents, opinion moulders, public servants and religious torchbearers as he traverses the length and breadth of the continent nudging them on the need for selfless leadership, good governance, poverty eradication and sound education for Africa's brightest young people. It is my prayer that God will continue to endow him with the wisdom, boldness and capacity to fulfill this divine assignment!

Emmanuel Ayomide-Praise is a Nigerian journalist, blogger and TV/Radio host. Email:eapgold@gmail.com. Twitter:@eapthecolossus, http://ayomidepraise.blogspot