Africans In China

THE Chinese Embassy in Lagos has decried the volume of fake documents usually submitted to it by prospective visa applicants in Nigeria.
Its Consul-General in Lagos, Mr Guo Kun, said yesterday in Lagos that the development was responsible for the delays usually associated with visa processing at the embassy. “The Visa Section personnel expend much time in the verification of documents because of the high spate of fake documents.

“Some applicants, especially businessmen, go the extra mile to forge business letters purportedly inviting them for business in China.

“This delays the process and makes it even tedious for the few hands we have in that section,’’ he explained.

Kun added that the section remained under-staffed because the Foreign Office in Beijing had yet to send more personnel.

Only on Wednesday, the police nabbed some suspects at Murtala Muhammed International Airport for forging Irish visas. Two ladies who purportedly bought the visas were also arrested.

Meanwhile, officials of the Chinese Embassy said they had yet to be briefed on the proposed visit of the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama to Nigeria. The Tibetan leader is expected to present a paper at the annual Anyiam Osigwe Lecture in Lagos later this month.

Kun explained that he would, however, meet with organisers of the lecture before making further comments.

The Chinese authorities do not recognise the authority of the Dalai Lama, who they alleged is encouraging the people of Tibet in South-West China to secede from the Republic. He has lived in exile in India since 1959.

(my-nigeria)

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