Augustina OkpechiBy Augustina Okpechi
AN important part of the socio-political movement in Nigeria is humour. It does it bit of facilitating socialization and reduces stress but humor also serves a double function. It is a tool for the Nigerian people to deride, deconstruct and engage with the state, including its agents and themselves as well. After all, an apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. This is what the show ‘Visa on Arrival’ a show on accelerate TV focuses on.
Visa on Arrival is a mockumentary aired on YouTube and written by comedian Bovi that focuses on an imaginary national unit that grants Visas to all countries for those leaving Nigeria. It sheds a light on the misadventures of the zany characters and how they interact with average Nigeria. According to Oyewale Afolabi, a commenter on the show, “it exposes the nonsense of our system.”
One out of ten Nigerians at one time or another have had to deal with government officials to get one process or another done. From performing the civic duty of registering and getting a PVC to going through application and clearance in a government institution. And it is safe to say that the struggle is real. The show Visa on Arrival addresses said hardships and the impacts it leaves on ‘citizens’.
In episode one, titled ‘Immigration Lawyer’ a young boy comes to apply for a Visa to Albania for a trial football match but is denied Visa by officer Okoro played by comedian Taymasan. The young boy was denied because according to officer Okoro “charity begins at home, you will start from Nigerian league. …you will start from your country, serve us first because Nigeria has given you enough…” This is the same country that just fulfilled its government pledge of a house gift to Chioma Ajunwa-Oparah, 25 years after winning a gold medal for Nigeria at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
In other episodes, officer Charity played by Datwarrigirl, also along the line of officer Okoro denies several applicant Visas on the basis that as a God-fearing woman, she refuses to see or be a part of anything that isn’t Christ-like. She, therefore, spends the most time at her job bringing people to Christ. Until she meets the one who opposes the authority of her God as the one true God. But what do they say about Nigerians and the fear of ‘Juju’? In this case, it is ‘approved’.
Officer Francis played by Bovi is another character who spends his working hours, frustrating ex-girlfriend and women who refuse to address him in the right manner – Sir, looking for women who makes him feel good about his lack of a love life, and breaking up couples who he deems not worthy to be together.
For other applicants who are also lucky to get their visa approved, the reasons are either by a stroke of good luck accompanied by prescribed humility or by the fear of the wrath of a renowned lawyer ready to sue the government and it’s an agent just for the fun of it.
While this might seem like only a Nigerian thing, according to Mark Thompson, a commenter who has traveled the world, he said: “every country has these kinds of people working the Visa department and customs.” He went on to narrate one of his experiences “once I could not get back into the U.S from Canada because the fee was $5. I did not have a $5 bill, just $1 bills and a $20. I had to park my car and wait 2 hours in line in customs to get change.”
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