Nigerian travellers accuse Ethiopian embassy of E-visa fraud
Travelling abroad for tourism has become increasingly difficult for Nigerians due to stricter visa requirements imposed by various countries.
Whilst not being specific on why stringent e-visa requirements are put in place, such measures, no doubt have caused several Nigerians loss of income and opportunities and valuable time.
Checks on the International Air Transport Association website, an international trade body representing some 240 airlines comprising 84 per cent of total air traffic, which provides accurate up-to-date information on international travel requirements and restrictions for countries, showed that visas could be obtained before departure on the official Ethiopian government website – https://www.evisa.gov.et/ and that travellers must have a printed visa approval before departure.
But this has not been the experience of Nigerian travellers, who bemoaned the silent treatment mete out to them by the embassy after payments were made, yet no visa was issued or refund made.
Sifting through the Ethiopian Embassy’s official Facebook handle, the X handle of the Ethiopian Embassy in Abuja and the @EthioEmbassyNG website, our correspondent observed that no notification was given for the recent restrictions for Nigerian travellers.
Furthermore, emails sent to the address listed on their Facebook handle on July 26 and 30, respectively, have not yet been replied to.
The same goes for the visa support email address to which another mail was sent.
The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb Eche Abu-Obe, when contacted about the alleged fraudulent discovery linked to the Ethiopian embassy, via text message, said, “This has to be clarified from the Consular section first.”
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