About 400 Nigerian expatriates and residents in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia face deportation as the ultimatum given them to regularise their residency permits expires on November 5. They also face a 10-year ban from the Kingdom if they fail to meet the deadline.
A dependable source just back from hajj said those affected persons cannot regularise their permits because Nigerian Immigration officials who took their passports for renewal have been unable to return them even as the deadline approaches.
The source said the Immigration officials had taken the passports and necessary fees from over 1000 Nigerians affected since May but only about 600 of them got their passports back; the remaining are still with officials in Nigeria.
According to him, the Nigerian Consulate in Jeddah has come under tremendous pressure from the affected persons because Saudi King Abdullah is unlikely to extend the amnesty period. The source also said consular officials have made several efforts to pressurise the Nigerian immigration to hasten the process to no avail.
The three months’ grace which expires on November 5 is said to be the third of such issued by King Abdullah. Efforts to speak with consular officials yesterday failed as they did not answer their calls.
When contacted, spokesman of the Nigeria Immigration Service, CPP Obua said an official was sent yesterday with the required documents of about 40 to 45 affected persons.
Obua who spoke to our reporter on telephone denied any shortcoming on the part of the Immigration Service saying it acted promptly in the matter, but claimed knowledge of only 40 to 45 people.
He said: “The issue of permits in any country is tied to passport validity, so even if you have the permit and your passport has expired you must have problem with the authorities in the country you are living which is what happened with most of the people affected.”
He stated that the Controller General of the NIS has taken the matter seriously in order not to jeopardise the lives of the people affected.
The immigration attaché Abubakar Sadiq Usman sent to Saudi Arabia with the documents was said to be airborne as at press time yesterday.
daily trust
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