Nigerian missions in the U.S. held a virtual town hall meeting on Sunday with Nigerians across the country to address diaspora concerns and counter online misinformation.

The three missions are the Embassy of Nigeria in Washington, D.C., the consulate general of Nigeria in New York, and the consulate general of Nigeria in Atlanta

From 7:00 p.m. until 11:15 p.m., as against the initial 9:00 p.m. (New York time), hundreds of Nigerians tuned in, speaking directly to their diplomats.

The participants raised pressing issues and received candid answers on matters ranging from passports and visas to investment, trade, and national image.

The meeting also offered constructive criticisms and discussed practical solutions for improving services at the missions.

Samson Itegboje, Nigeria’s acting ambassador to the U.S., announced that New York and Atlanta now each have a passport printer, with Washington, D.C., operating two, to expedite processing.

The passport printers were initially based only in Washington, while the Consulates General in Atlanta and New York took turns traveling to Washington to print passports on a monthly basis.

He, however, regretted that “Nigerians apply for passports, visas, and other consular services at the last hours and want us to do magic.”

“This meeting is to hear Nigerians out, know their problems and seek ways to address them,” Mr Itegboje said. “We have been improving in our service delivery. We’ve been having good reviews, and we will continue to improve.

He added, “We’re going to continue to do our best because we don’t want any Nigerian to suffer. This government attaches great importance to the Nigerian diaspora community, and it’s why it is part of the 4Ds.”

He said President Bola Tinubu’s 4Ds foreign policy doctrine was democracy, development, demography, and diaspora.

The Nigerian diplomat explained that the Nigerian government would leverage the power of the Nigerian diaspora to enhance diplomatic relations.

The consul general of Nigeria in New York, Abubakar Jidda, reminded the diaspora that Nigeria remains their country and cautioned them against destructive criticism.

“Whatever name you give your country is the name others will call it,” Mr Jidda said. “Let’s continue to identify challenges and solutions to those challenges in order to make Nigeria better. But these problems are not even one-sided. You have some Nigerians who come to the missions with some tones of disrespect, and some of us have experienced it firsthand.”

Mr Yidda said, “Nigerians should help us to help them. Let us continue to meet like this so as to understand your problems while you also understand our challenges.”

Mr Jidda cautioned Nigerians against engaging in what he described as “mischievous and injurious” impressions against the missions in a desperate attempt to gain social media attention.

“This is not only unfair to our officers who go above and beyond but also harmful to Nigeria’s image,” Mr Jidda stated.

He pledged that Nigerian diplomats “will not allow deliberate misrepresentation to undermine our mission”.

“While we criticise, we should endeavour to acknowledge the good works that the Nigerian missions in the U.S. are doing,” added Mr Jidda. “We must also counter negative narratives mischievously meant to tarnish our image or isolated cases while overlooking excellent services that are being rendered to hundreds of thousands of Nigerians in the U.S.”

The consul general of Nigeria in Atlanta, Auwalu Namadina, stressed that “fixing Nigeria is not for some, but for everybody”.

Mr Namadina urged continuous dialogue so that the missions and Nigerian nationals in the U.S. understand each other’s challenges and proffer lasting solutions to them. He also pledged to address every concern brought to his attention about the Nigerian consulate in Atlanta.

(NAN)