Nigerians in Austria petition Jonathan over alleged neglect by embassy

Posted by admin Africa & World Politics, Headlines Wednesday, December 26th, 2012

By EGUFE YAFUGBORHI

PORT HARCOURT- NIGERIANS in Austria have petitioned President Goodluck Jonathan over alleged indifference by the country’s Ambassador to that country, Mrs. Maria Laose, to the plight of Nigerians, following various ill-treatment they suffer in the hands of the host government.

Expressing their frustrations in a chat with Vanguard in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, one of the complainants residing in Austria, Mr. Uzoma Ahamefule, claimed that rather than protect their interests, the ambassador was busy signing the deportation of Nigerians without proper investigation.

Ahamefule, who spoke for National Association of Nigerian Community in Austria, NANCA, said: “The cat and mouse relationship with the ambassador has led to a disconnect between us and the Nigerian embassy and this has encouraged infringement on our immigrants’ rights with impunity over there.”

Ahamefule added that NANCA was also bitter that for the first time in its history in Austria, the Nigerian Embassy under Ambassador Laose denied them formal invitation to collectively celebrate the 52nd independence anniversary of Nigeria earlier in October, as had been established for many years.

“Deportations of Nigerians in Austria continues without contact or proper identification of their nationalities by the embassy. Some of the people they claim they could identify went through charade interviews, with the conduct of the interview outside the premises of the Nigerian embassy with a predetermined result,” he alleged.

-Punchwp_posts