For the first time, I'm typing this from my phone. Hopefully, my fingers won't begin to ache at some point. I use a Blackberry Bold5 and the keypads are quite wide and soft, so I guess I shouldn't have anything to worry about asides my battery. Used to carry a spare battery around in Nigeria but I haven't had to worry about my battery life since I got here. Oh! There was an incident, my 'ex-phone's' charging port got bad and in the whole of Canada, I couldn't get a Desktop-charger, how sad. In Lagos, I just need to walk to my estate gate. Sweet! Just found out this bus has a wall socket (I can charge my phone). The bus also has Wi-Fi (I don't have to waste my internet data).
So, I'm on a journey to Ottawa, going to the Nigerian High Commission. I have heard a lot about the embassy and the unprofessionalism of the Nigerians that work there. I have tried my possible best to be detailed about the requirements for passport renewal and in my being overly detailed I missed the point that said you should reschedule if you are ever scheduled for a Monday. It was when I booked for a trip on Greyhound before it finally occurred to me that my appointment was scheduled on a Monday and that I should have rescheduled before getting the bus ticket. Called Greyhound but sadly they couldn't help me as I had opted to print the ticket at home instead of picking it up at their office, and so I lost $86. I'm not trying to push the blame to the embassy, because they clearly stated it on their website that if you are scheduled on a Monday or public holiday, reschedule. All I'm trying to say is that they can as well save everybody from all these headache by adding a few lines of code to the schedule generator (if schedule_date_day == Monday then schedule_date = schedule_date + 1). Also, can someone please inform the Nigerian High Commission Ottawa, to please get an editor for their website? So many grammatical errors, it's a shame that Nigeria's official Language is English Language. It's a shame that a governmental website doesn't even have an editor. I rescheduled and I was scheduled for 15th of October. Anyways, this bus is 'kinda comfy' so I'm going take a nap now. Can't believe I have only had 4 hrs. of sleep in the last 25hrs there about. I'll continue when I get to Ottawa, the bus driver said we should be there 5:30am, the time now is 1:28am.
0540hrs, at Greyhound Ottawa terminal, it's kinda cold, about 10oC and now walking to Metacafe street.
2055hrs, now somewhere at Kanata (sounds like Canada). Thank God for this family, they are definitely God sent. I think I have finally recovered from the shock I met in front of the Nigerian Embassy. Below is the notice I saw in front of the embassy.
Fvkc!!! I lost my sanity for a moment (A moment is actually 90 seconds). What I have always dreaded about this embassy in Ottawa has finally happened to me. I was initially scheduled for a Monday, which they don't work on and now I have been rescheduled for another day they are on holiday. Why me? Jesus, why me? These people just lack organization and communication. I mean, it'll cost close to nothing to send emails to everyone that has been scheduled for today but instead they put the information on their website and expect everyone to get the information. I actually knew there was a public holiday in Nigeria but for some reasons it skipped my mind that the embassy will be closed too.
I didn't know anywhere in Ottawa, so the first thing that came to my mind was to go back to the bus station (I followed the Yoruba adage; "Ti iwaju oba shey lo, eyin ashe pada si" which means: when you can't go any further, you should be able to retrace your steps). Being the spontaneous me, I sat in the waiting area of the bus station and I tried to search for the next available bus to Toronto, "This is another $150 going into the bush" (Bus fare was more expensive because of the thanksgiving holiday in Canada), I thought to myself. Just before I paid for the bus, my miss replied the pinged I sent her earlier and I told her to call. Speaking on the phone with her helped me ease off the stress and she was able to convince me to stay back in Ottawa and wait till Thursday since I knew someone that knew someone. Got off the phone with her, called the ‘someone’ that knew someone to inform him of my situation. Got the address of the ‘someone’ in Ottawa and few minutes later, I was on the bus heading to the direction of the someone's address. Had to call OCtranspo so as to get information on which bus to take and where to get a transfer.
Fast-forward to 0701hrs, Thursday October 17th 2013, back at the consulate's office. I was the fourth to get there, met two other Nigerians and another Jamaican woman who was married to a Nigerian and she needed to apply for a Visa (Nigeria's Visa is hard to get oh, chei!!!). As typical Nigerians, they talked about the issues Nigeria has while ending it with the usual phrase "may God help us". I tried not to get involved but they talked about some issues that got me agitated and I had to chip in my opinion. A lot of these guys were in the same situation as me. They had been scheduled for the day the embassy was closed and someone even came all the way from British Colombia. He said he had to reschedule his flight for $450 and lodge in a hotel (And to think I lost money). I felt sorry for the guy though but I felt lucky at the same time.
0925hrs, the Nigeria High commission Ottawa's door was thrown open without apologises for the 25 minutes delay, a typical Nigerian Governmental organization. I was in the waiting room for another hour where a man called our names and collected our documents before I was finally called in. The whole process of re-enrolling took about 10 minutes max per person.
1932hrs, home chilling. It was a long day but I'm going to make sure I use just my phone to compose this. Can't believe that was my first meal of the day. It was an awesome experience meeting and chatting with these other guys from different provinces. One guy is from Newfoundland, one from Alberta, one from Saskatchewan and the other guy is from Toronto (he drives, so I got a free ride home :D). Good looking guys I must say. So, girls if you are single and searching, these men are up for grabs (didn't even ask if they are single. But if they are, don't worry you'll bounce the other girl). Oh, yea! There was also a lady who appeared to be a Nun (sorry guys) and she is from Quebec. Talking about Quebec, one thing I love about Ottawa is that every sign and printed documents were both in English and French and I think it's high time I took my French-learning quest more seriously.
In all, I think I was impressed with the service I got from the High commission today; at least I got the chance to watch NTA again. This was probably because my expectations were quite low but still I'll give them a pass mark. However, it will be great if they could work on the scheduling section of the passport application by excluding public holidays and Mondays which they are not opened to the public from the dates people are scheduled. In their defence, someone said, the scheduling system is a global system in which other embassy in other countries are served from too and they probably work on Mondays with public holidays also definitely varying. This is not a justification as they can easily create a child_function for Canada in the program that does the scheduling. Just in case any of the staff of the Nigerian High Commission Ottawa is reading this, I'm willing to help improve the scheduling system for free, just comment or send a direct message.
Lastly, I noticed some form of tribalism in the office. Everybody in the office was Igbo, that's so not cool. We have a lot of tribes in Nigeria and I feel there should be various tribes in the embassy too and not just a domination of one tribe. I think the man in the passport waiting area was Yoruba though but still they need to balance out the tribalism. In all, the service rendered to me by the High Commission was acceptable and my trip to Ottawa was a good one.
So, I'm on a journey to Ottawa, going to the Nigerian High Commission. I have heard a lot about the embassy and the unprofessionalism of the Nigerians that work there. I have tried my possible best to be detailed about the requirements for passport renewal and in my being overly detailed I missed the point that said you should reschedule if you are ever scheduled for a Monday. It was when I booked for a trip on Greyhound before it finally occurred to me that my appointment was scheduled on a Monday and that I should have rescheduled before getting the bus ticket. Called Greyhound but sadly they couldn't help me as I had opted to print the ticket at home instead of picking it up at their office, and so I lost $86. I'm not trying to push the blame to the embassy, because they clearly stated it on their website that if you are scheduled on a Monday or public holiday, reschedule. All I'm trying to say is that they can as well save everybody from all these headache by adding a few lines of code to the schedule generator (if schedule_date_day == Monday then schedule_date = schedule_date + 1). Also, can someone please inform the Nigerian High Commission Ottawa, to please get an editor for their website? So many grammatical errors, it's a shame that Nigeria's official Language is English Language. It's a shame that a governmental website doesn't even have an editor. I rescheduled and I was scheduled for 15th of October. Anyways, this bus is 'kinda comfy' so I'm going take a nap now. Can't believe I have only had 4 hrs. of sleep in the last 25hrs there about. I'll continue when I get to Ottawa, the bus driver said we should be there 5:30am, the time now is 1:28am.
0540hrs, at Greyhound Ottawa terminal, it's kinda cold, about 10oC and now walking to Metacafe street.
2055hrs, now somewhere at Kanata (sounds like Canada). Thank God for this family, they are definitely God sent. I think I have finally recovered from the shock I met in front of the Nigerian Embassy. Below is the notice I saw in front of the embassy.
Fvkc!!! I lost my sanity for a moment (A moment is actually 90 seconds). What I have always dreaded about this embassy in Ottawa has finally happened to me. I was initially scheduled for a Monday, which they don't work on and now I have been rescheduled for another day they are on holiday. Why me? Jesus, why me? These people just lack organization and communication. I mean, it'll cost close to nothing to send emails to everyone that has been scheduled for today but instead they put the information on their website and expect everyone to get the information. I actually knew there was a public holiday in Nigeria but for some reasons it skipped my mind that the embassy will be closed too.
I didn't know anywhere in Ottawa, so the first thing that came to my mind was to go back to the bus station (I followed the Yoruba adage; "Ti iwaju oba shey lo, eyin ashe pada si" which means: when you can't go any further, you should be able to retrace your steps). Being the spontaneous me, I sat in the waiting area of the bus station and I tried to search for the next available bus to Toronto, "This is another $150 going into the bush" (Bus fare was more expensive because of the thanksgiving holiday in Canada), I thought to myself. Just before I paid for the bus, my miss replied the pinged I sent her earlier and I told her to call. Speaking on the phone with her helped me ease off the stress and she was able to convince me to stay back in Ottawa and wait till Thursday since I knew someone that knew someone. Got off the phone with her, called the ‘someone’ that knew someone to inform him of my situation. Got the address of the ‘someone’ in Ottawa and few minutes later, I was on the bus heading to the direction of the someone's address. Had to call OCtranspo so as to get information on which bus to take and where to get a transfer.
Fast-forward to 0701hrs, Thursday October 17th 2013, back at the consulate's office. I was the fourth to get there, met two other Nigerians and another Jamaican woman who was married to a Nigerian and she needed to apply for a Visa (Nigeria's Visa is hard to get oh, chei!!!). As typical Nigerians, they talked about the issues Nigeria has while ending it with the usual phrase "may God help us". I tried not to get involved but they talked about some issues that got me agitated and I had to chip in my opinion. A lot of these guys were in the same situation as me. They had been scheduled for the day the embassy was closed and someone even came all the way from British Colombia. He said he had to reschedule his flight for $450 and lodge in a hotel (And to think I lost money). I felt sorry for the guy though but I felt lucky at the same time.
0925hrs, the Nigeria High commission Ottawa's door was thrown open without apologises for the 25 minutes delay, a typical Nigerian Governmental organization. I was in the waiting room for another hour where a man called our names and collected our documents before I was finally called in. The whole process of re-enrolling took about 10 minutes max per person.
1932hrs, home chilling. It was a long day but I'm going to make sure I use just my phone to compose this. Can't believe that was my first meal of the day. It was an awesome experience meeting and chatting with these other guys from different provinces. One guy is from Newfoundland, one from Alberta, one from Saskatchewan and the other guy is from Toronto (he drives, so I got a free ride home :D). Good looking guys I must say. So, girls if you are single and searching, these men are up for grabs (didn't even ask if they are single. But if they are, don't worry you'll bounce the other girl). Oh, yea! There was also a lady who appeared to be a Nun (sorry guys) and she is from Quebec. Talking about Quebec, one thing I love about Ottawa is that every sign and printed documents were both in English and French and I think it's high time I took my French-learning quest more seriously.
In all, I think I was impressed with the service I got from the High commission today; at least I got the chance to watch NTA again. This was probably because my expectations were quite low but still I'll give them a pass mark. However, it will be great if they could work on the scheduling section of the passport application by excluding public holidays and Mondays which they are not opened to the public from the dates people are scheduled. In their defence, someone said, the scheduling system is a global system in which other embassy in other countries are served from too and they probably work on Mondays with public holidays also definitely varying. This is not a justification as they can easily create a child_function for Canada in the program that does the scheduling. Just in case any of the staff of the Nigerian High Commission Ottawa is reading this, I'm willing to help improve the scheduling system for free, just comment or send a direct message.
Lastly, I noticed some form of tribalism in the office. Everybody in the office was Igbo, that's so not cool. We have a lot of tribes in Nigeria and I feel there should be various tribes in the embassy too and not just a domination of one tribe. I think the man in the passport waiting area was Yoruba though but still they need to balance out the tribalism. In all, the service rendered to me by the High Commission was acceptable and my trip to Ottawa was a good one.
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