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Diasporia News of Monday, 7 June 2010

Source: www.businessdayonline.com

30% Ghanaians working in US with Nigerian passport

Lagos, Nigeria -- Due to lose immigration system in the country, findings have shown that over 30 percent of Ghanaians working in the United States of America came in with Nigerian passport.
These people who have lived in Nigeria for a period of time before coming to the US and could speak one local Nigerian language and use their English names to acquire the country’s international passport.
Speaking with BusinessDay in New York on Thursday, some Ghanaians who pleaded anonymity said they came to the US with Nigerian passport, stressing that they acquired it as a result of their long stay in the country. “We have lived in the country for a while and we have the right to claim Nigerian citizenship”, they stated.
They said some of them worked as teachers, hairdressers, artisans, and in many other professions before coming to the US, stressing that they had to do that because it was easier to obtain Nigerian passport.
“However, with the rising rate of corruption and drop in Nigeria’s image internationally most of us who are already US citizens have dropped Nigerian passport. We have gone back to acquire Ghanaians passport”, they stated.
According to them, what prompted their massive change in citizenship from Nigeria was the recent recognition which Barrack Obama has given to Ghana after he was sworn in as the president of the United States of America. They lamented the deteriorating state of the country, stressing that Nigerians should learn from Ghana especially in their style of leadership, free and fair election and consistence in power supply.
It would be recalled that last year, some Ghanaians were arrested in Lagos for allegedly being in possession of Nigerian passport. Moreover, some foreigners use Nigerian passport to commit fraud outside the country especially in the US.