It has been a very long and ardous task to secure a passage to Thailand. It all began a few weeks or so back when I got the confirmation that I am one of those to be sponsored to participate in COP2.
This is my first attendance at such a gathering. I thought it was going to be a simple case of presenting my documents at the Thai embassy and getting a visa. I was wrong. Until June 15th this year, there was no Thai embassy in Nigeria so one had to travel to London to obtain a visa before proceeding on the journey.
However, it is not that easy. In my country Nigeria, you have to get a certificate from the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to affirm that you are not a drug courrier. To get this clearance is not an easy task and without the clearance the Thai embassy would never attend to you not give you a visa.
My applications and that of about four others have been lying in the offices of the drug law agency for days without any attention paid to it. There is a limit to which you can hasten them up.
I initially thought my staus as a senior journalist and a deputy editor of a national newspaper was going to make the process faster. I was wrong.
Getting the clearance letter proved more difficult than getting an American visa. Even in this age of fear of terrorism the redtapism was too much for us to be able to pass through.
We were at our wit's end and the last saving grace was the intervention of my friend and colleague Mr Akinbode Oluwafemi who called the Thai Ministry of Health and before we knew what was happening we were assured that we would be attended to without the so called certificate.
We jumped into the next available flight from Lagos to Abuja and in less than 24 hours our visas were ready.
I couldn't believe it. With this masterstroke my way has been paved to proceed to Bangkok, Asia. It'll be my first to Asia.
However, after securing the visas we came back to Lagos to meet another shocker.
Our reservations have been cancelled. Why? The four day strike by labour had affected it because airlines had to clear the backlog of passengers that they were unable to fly during the period.
Not to worry, we are at least going to be at COP2 though a day or some few hours late.
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