BY FAVOUR NNABUGWU

A Nigerian and four other members of African Insurance Organisation, AIO, were deported to their respective countries from Zimbabwe and Kenya, due to the lack of proper travel documents.

The five delegates who came from Nigeria, Gabon, and Cote D’Ivoire, were to attend the 38th AIO conference in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, but could not avail immigration officers at the Harare Airport with the backup documents to enable them proceed to Victoria Falls, venue of the conference, hence were returned on the next available flight to their countries.

L- Mr Dayo Mobayo, Regional Head, S/West of Standard Alliance Insurance, Mr Tom Imokhai, CEO, Standard Alliance Insurance and Mr Chibuzor Victor, Regional Head, North of the company at the 38th AIO conference in Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe

The delegates had erroneously assumed that the AIO Secretariat had taken care of their documentations in spite of warnings by the Local Organizing Committee and the AIO that delegates should obtain their visas from the Zimbabwean Embassy in their countries.

Furthermore, delegates from countries without a Zimbabwean Embassy were requested to forward their passport data pages and obtain confirmation letters from the AIO to facilitate their visas at the point of entry, which were ignored by the affected delegates.

The Adviser, Zimbabwean AIO Local Organising Committee, Mr Albert Nduna, in an interview with Vanguard’s Sweetcrude said it was painful to the entire AIO that five delegates were sent back to their countries on account of insufficient documentation.

“We have well over 800 delegates out of which five were deported; it’s painful even if it was only one person that was deported. There are certain documentations, which they did not provide to the immigration officers at the airport. I had also once assumed that my documentation was taken care of by the AIO in one of my trips, but l was warned to ensure I had proper documents whenever l am traveling.

“Delegates traveling for the AIO conference must ensure that they communicate with the AIO secretary on the required documentation, and if need be, get confirmation letters from the secretariat so as not to experience a recurrence of this nature in the future.”

The LOC made frantic effort to provide the immigration with the necessary documents, but they had been deported and could not be called back.

The immediate past President of the AIO, Mr Bai Ndongo Faal, who spoke to Sweetcrude, said there was little or nothing the AIO could have done at that point since the delegates had already been deported, but noted that it was indeed a lesson for the future to all delegates.

He said the AIO will, henceforth, ensure that any country that is hosting the AIO conference kept good communication with the immigration department of that country to avoid a reoccurrence.

“Delegates overlooked the Harare protocols and focused more on Victoria Falls, whereas Victoria Falls does not have problems of immigration. It is an experience and a lesson to host countries in the future,” he added.

The AIO Secretary-General, Ms Prisca Soares, from Nigeria, who also confirmed the deportation of the delegates, said the AIO would ensure that such embarrassment did not repeat itself in future.