New Nigerian ambassador to be announced soon: Official

Doha: The Consular at the Nigerian Embassy in Doha, Musa Abubakar, said a new ambassador would soon be appointed to Qatar. He disclosed this during a virtual Town Hall meeting hosted by the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Qatar (NIDO-Qatar).

The consular also discussed the concerning issue of passport renewal and the delays the process has witnessed.

“After two years, we will soon have a Nigerian ambassador coming to Qatar. He has been screened and cleared by the national assembly (in Nigeria). They are doing their injunction, and in the next few months, our ambassador will come to Qatar,” Abubakar told the Town Hall meeting.

Nigeria’s last Ambassador to Qatar was Dr. Bawa Abdullahi Wase, who died in Doha in September 2018. Nigerians totalling around 11,000 in Doha have felt a significant void since his demise.

The consular also addressed the persistent issue of passport intervention for many Nigerians who could not renew their passports or process a new one for their newborn babies. Abubakar noted that the embassy is working with Qatari authorities and officials back in Nigeria to facilitate the process as soon as possible. The embassy depends on its counterpart in Abu Dhabi for passport services, which causes significant inconvenience for residence in Doha.

“We noticed some problems in the previous process of the passport intervention programme. Some applicants didn’t give adequate information while completing the application process, which caused a delay in printing the passports.

“However, we planned to have the exercise in January, but due to COVID-19, we couldn’t do it. We have been discussing with the Qatari government who are willing to give the embassy a window to allow officials into the country to carry out the exercise,” Abubakar said. The consular called on Nigerians to comply with the recent data collection initiative rolled out by the embassy to enable them to have an up to date record of Nigerians in the country. This process would help the embassy carry out its responsibilities adequately and facilitate the approval of a full-time passport machine in Qatar.

“When we request facilities like the passport machine and creating a NIN (National Identification Number) Centre in Qatar, the authorities back in Nigeria request to know the number of Nigerians living in Doha. We need Nigerians to make their information available to the embassy to make it easier for our request to be approved,” he added.