Today's post is about people that have to suffer just because they don't pay attention to simple details or would i say information as contained in their passports.
The Woman:
Towards the close of my last day shift i was called by the immigration service to their office to sign up forms for a woman about to be deported back to Ghana! i was quite surprised as Ghana is a west African country like Nigeria, so i don't expect a Ghanaian to be deported from Nigeria.
As i approached the office, the Lady was not there, she was at a different corner making frantic efforts to get top government officials to wade into her situation as it was eminent that she would be deported. She was in Nigeria on the invitation of a high powered agency and was even on phone with top immigration officers in Abuja where the meeting was to be held.
Towards the close of my last day shift i was called by the immigration service to their office to sign up forms for a woman about to be deported back to Ghana! i was quite surprised as Ghana is a west African country like Nigeria, so i don't expect a Ghanaian to be deported from Nigeria.
As i approached the office, the Lady was not there, she was at a different corner making frantic efforts to get top government officials to wade into her situation as it was eminent that she would be deported. She was in Nigeria on the invitation of a high powered agency and was even on phone with top immigration officers in Abuja where the meeting was to be held.
The Error:
This Lady had apparently worked with the Immigration service in Ghana and risen to the very top before retirement so coming into Nigeria (or leaving Ghana) with a cancelled passport was not expected from her. Alas the passport she left Ghana with was CANCELLED! she had to be deported.
The Explanaton:
As i approached her, to enquire of her return ticket and how this happened. She claims that she had an ECOWAS passport at home but didn't bring it. She also told me that she had no return ticket on her and that the ticket to go back to Ghana was waiting for her in Abuja. This was not so as all our tickets are electronic and i could not find her name on the flights for the next week when she claimed she had a ticket for.
As i approached her, to enquire of her return ticket and how this happened. She claims that she had an ECOWAS passport at home but didn't bring it. She also told me that she had no return ticket on her and that the ticket to go back to Ghana was waiting for her in Abuja. This was not so as all our tickets are electronic and i could not find her name on the flights for the next week when she claimed she had a ticket for.
The Options:
The options were few and far between as a flight just left to ACCRA as we spoke and made calls. She was about to miss the next and final one if we did not make moves to get her on a flight to Accra and fast, she would have had to sleep over in the Airport , and the Airline would have to pay a fine of $2,000 to the immigration service (which i was still trying to avoid) for bringing her in with invalid documents.
The options were few and far between as a flight just left to ACCRA as we spoke and made calls. She was about to miss the next and final one if we did not make moves to get her on a flight to Accra and fast, she would have had to sleep over in the Airport , and the Airline would have to pay a fine of $2,000 to the immigration service (which i was still trying to avoid) for bringing her in with invalid documents.
A ticket was priced for her 1 way to Accra and was told to pay. She claimed she had no money and that her ticket was in Abuja, when it started to dawn on her that she may sleep on a table in the Airport (considering her status) she opted to pay via credit card.
Eventually, she did pay for the ticket and was returned back to Ghana. She had therefore paid for 2 tickets ACCRA-Lagos-Abuja , and Lagos-Accra without stepping out of the Airport! Both tickets would have cost her upwards of $500. All she had to do was take time out at home or on her way to the Airport to go through her documents. Instead of flying 55mins to Lagos, staying in the Airport for 2hrs and flying out for another 55mins without leaving the Airport.
The moral of the story is......read- @lereboy
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