Within our number of letters from African journalists novelist and author Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani views why Nigerians take their lives in danger and go for harmful routes to Europe once they neglect to get visas

The official route for Africans wanting to go to free airline is paved with indignity

I have vivid reminiscences of my first trip to the British High Commission in Lagos just a little over about ten years ago

The swarm of sweaty candidates within the neverending queue a lot of whom had showed up as soon as 04:00

The battalion of whispering males who trapped me the moment I showed up offering to fabricate whatever document I needed whether it is bank claims or medical reviews

The fiery brouhaha that ensued from time-to-time on the beginners make an effort to sneak in to the head of the line

It sometimes was simply an enterprising tout giving room to the one who had hired him in order to save a location

Its not all Nigerian was eliminate for the stress of waiting in outdoors for many hrs

Finally at noon a pot-bellied security guy relieved us in our misery and opened up the doorways towards the visa-processing section No hurrying he barked

Individuals behind stored elbowing individuals in-front The strong ongoing pushing the weak aside

Seeing their superior so coldly overlooked the scrawnier security males lashed by helping cover their their short whips without caring which people may be pregnant or too frail for your type of physical abuse

Yelps wails screams exploded in the crowd

But we ongoing to push our means by for an opportunity to obtain questioned for any visa

It didn’t matter regardless of whether you only wished to go to the United kingdom or you meant to settle The torturous process was exactly the same

All of this was nothing in comparison towards the commotion in the American Embassy just in the future which in fact had most likely quadruple the amount of candidates the British did

But oh the pleasure if somebody been successful to get a visa to Europe or America Oh the reactions of exhilaration in families

Sometimes effective candidates was before their congregations throughout testimony time at chapel to declare Gods miraculous goodness in granting them a visa

The demon attempted to face within my way however i stored having faith in the same God who separated the Red-colored Ocean would get it done for me personally they stated

Inspired shouts of Praise the The almighty! sprang up in the congregation

A number of these people was not granted an immigrant visa merely a site visitors visa that will expire in several weeks Yet they’d no plans of coming back in the near future

Within the eighties the Nigerian government attempted through a number of adverts on national television to discourage its people from abandoning their country because the economy continuously got worse

The Andrew Dont Take A Look At adverts grew to become very popular but I don’t realize that they assisted to forestall Nigerians looking at in groups

Once we say in Nigeria Who no like better factor?

People have started to think that living in the western world is able to significantly transform the standard and standing of the existence family and community To a lot of who neglect to get visas it’s still worth every danger to emulate this

They’ve seen migrants relatives riding sleek cars and constructing mansions

Family houses obtaining a built borehole outside with neighbours permitted from time-to-time along with containers and fetch h2o

Individuals who remained home have battled to accomplish their first levels in Nigerian colleges where strikes through the teachers frequently ground education to some halt while their former class mates – the visa migrants – generate advanced levels from foreign schools

Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani:

Individuals who queued up at embassies usually felt reasonably capable of satisfy the stringent visa needs

And whenever these exceedingly educated migrants finally generate the courage revisit Nigeria they’re approved greater respect and position than individuals having a local education

Individuals who queued up at embassies usually felt reasonably capable of satisfy the stringent visa needs

But there have been individuals who’d never have the ability to meet these conditions yet who frantically preferred to love others graze in which the grass was eco-friendly – and someone would let them know in regards to a route through Libya

For each applicant who does not hoodwink embassy staff with tall tales and pretend documents you will find other people who succeed

For each boat that sinks within the Mediterranean you will find individuals making it across

These success tales still motivate ambitious immigrants

Obviously you will find individuals tales of migrants who finish up earning money from wiping bottoms in old peoples houses

However the folks home don’t mind as lengthy because the foreign currency is constantly on the arrive – foreign currencies superlatively muscular from the progressively weak Nigerian naira

Many embassies in Nigeria not able to deal directly using the increase in their gates now contract the assortment of visa application documents

African government authorities didn’t care when their everyone was being whipped into order at embassies directly on their very own soil

Now they aren’t pretending of looking after about individuals drowning within the dark blue Mediterranean