We’re Being Treated Shabbily, Nigerian Community In Austria Cries Out
The president of the National Association of Nigerian Community in Austria (NANCA), Mr Oluyemi Ogundele, on Monday, appealed to the House of Representatives to come to their aid over the undignified manner the Austrian government had been treating them.
The NANCA president, who led a delegation of the community to National Assembly, also appealed to the House Committee on Diaspora, led by Honourable Abike Dabiri-Erewa, to as a matter of urgency rescue them, noting that the Austrian government had branded documents from Nigeria’s government as fake and as such Nigerians in the country suffered a great deal to get their documentation done.
He said: “There are evidences of infringement on the fundamental human rights of Nigerians. The lawyers engaged by the Austrian Embassy in Abuja exceed their mandate by intruding into the private life of the Nigerian applicants. In some cases, they often demand for bribe in exchange for a favourable report on the applicants.
“The Austria Mission in Abuja demands the sum of N120,000 for verifications of documents that have already been certified as genuine by the Nigerian government and its agencies.
“Nigerians are required to take their documents to the Nigerian ministry of Foreign Affairs for authentication.
Thereafter, the Austrian mission then engages a local lawyer to reconfirm the authenticity claim of the same documents by the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria before accepting the document as genuine.”
While responding, Honourable Dabiri-Erewa said that the House would look into the matter and seek audience with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as the Austrian authorities to ensure that justice is done to the issue.
source: tribuneng
