So, Nigeria's Acting President has finally started acting like one. Having dissolved the ailing President's cabinet, he is making very popular appointments and some would say consolidating his hold on power.
My interest however is in this term Acting President. What does that really mean? Does that mean that the AP is holding fort for the "Real" President? In which case, the AP should only do things that the RP has asked him to do? Does his appointment ever get confirmed? Under what conditions?
On the face of it though, Mr AP is going about his business and starting to give a sense that Nigeria is on the move forward again. He appears to have ditched the 7 point(less) agenda and is making noises of sorting out one thing. He has at least stopped Nigeria being the butt of all jokes. Possibly because he knows he is only "acting" i.e. he only has a fixed term that is not likely to be renewed.
In the end, possibly the problem with Nigeria's leaders is that they don't realise that they are "Acting". We need more Acting Governors, Ministers, Commissioners etc. And maybe if that happened, we would have more people doing their jobs properly.
Thursday, 1 April 2010
Sunday, 28 March 2010
Getting a new passport
I recently had to obtain a new passport at the Nigeria High Commission in London. I must admit, I was more than a little anxious about visiting the Commission, given my previous experiences there. Lets just say, you wouldn't visit there if you could help it.
Anyway, I arrived at the embassy at about 10am on a Wednesday morning and didn't leave until just past 5pm. During that time, I count being on queues 8 times, had very little information on the process and no sense of how long I would be in the embassy. The one amelioration came when a senior official took time to address the waiting "customers" after a near riot as tempers were frayed.
In the end, I got through the process and will return someday to pick up the renewed passport. My advice - if you plan to visit the Commission for a similar reason - have a good meal, take a second meal along and go expecting to spend the whole day. And maybe it won't be as bad as you expect!
Anyway, I arrived at the embassy at about 10am on a Wednesday morning and didn't leave until just past 5pm. During that time, I count being on queues 8 times, had very little information on the process and no sense of how long I would be in the embassy. The one amelioration came when a senior official took time to address the waiting "customers" after a near riot as tempers were frayed.
In the end, I got through the process and will return someday to pick up the renewed passport. My advice - if you plan to visit the Commission for a similar reason - have a good meal, take a second meal along and go expecting to spend the whole day. And maybe it won't be as bad as you expect!
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