Nigerian embassy in Canada suspends activities after ‘attack’ on staff

By our reporter| The Nigerian high commission in Canada on Tuesday announced an indefinite suspension of its activities.

According to a statement provided on its website, the embassy hinged the decision on the fact that people show up at the chancery uninvited, adding that the special intervention arrangements for emergency cases have been suspended.

Also, some citizens were accused of assaulting one of the embassy’s staff on Friday.

“On a number of occasions people seeking passport renewal came to the chancery without an appointment and acted in a most unruly manner, disturbing the peace and acting in an abusive manner, banging windows Etc.

“Matters came to a head on Friday August 14, 2020 when a group showed up at the High Commission and refused to allow the embassy staff members to attend to those who had appointments. They insisted that we had to attend to everybody who showed up. They went as far as holding a female staff member who went to address them hostage for over twenty minutes and subjected her to physical abuse,” the statement read.

The embassy added that it does not have enough passport booklets available, owing to the closure of airspace by many countries including Nigeria, to check the spread of COVID-19.

”For individuals trying to renew work and study permits, the commission asked them to apply for renewals online. At the appropriate time, applicants would be asked to submit appropriate documentation,” the commission said.

“If you do not have a valid passport when this happens you may ask for a 90 day grace period which would be granted.

“Nigerian citizens whose study or work permits have expired since March 2020 and who do not have a valid passport have a grace period that lasts until December 31st, 2020. By this time we expect to have resolved some of the challenging issues that COVID-19 has created.”

Many Nigerians residing in different parts of Canada have applied for the renewal of their passports for the purpose of extending their work permits, study visas or seeking medical care abroad.

These categories of people, after paying for the new passport, meet a gridlock at the embassy’s only office in Canada located in Ottawa.