Nigerians Face Job Losses In Lebanon Amid Embassy Shutdown, Passport Renewal Crisis

By Onoja Baba, Nigeria 

Nigerians living in Lebanon are facing widespread job losses, deportations, and severe hardships due to delays in passport renewals, worsened by the prolonged closure of the Nigerian Embassy in Beirut.

The embassy’s inactivity, which escalated after its temporary relocation to Cairo during the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in September 2024, has left many Nigerians stranded without valid documents.

The president of the Nigerian community in Lebanon, Roland Aigbovbiosa, revealed that the issue of delayed passport renewals, which began in 2022, has spiraled out of control, leaving many Nigerians unable to maintain their legal status.

Employers in Lebanon, under strict immigration laws, have started terminating contracts with Nigerians whose residence and work permits could not be renewed.

He stated that some Nigerians had even been deported due to the inability to present valid documents.

“In Lebanon, if you don’t renew your residence and work permits on time, immigration authorities harass your employers. Many employers have lost patience and started firing Nigerian workers. Just yesterday, I received multiple calls from Nigerians who were sacked because their passports had not been renewed,” Aigbovbiosa said.

He added that the embassy’s inactivity had caused frustration and despair among Nigerians in Lebanon, with no tangible support from the Nigerian government.

The Patron of the Nigerian community in Lebanon, Prince Adeyinka Omotosho, corroborated Aigbovbiosa’s claims, emphasizing that the embassy’s closure during the September crisis was unjustifiable.

Omotosho noted that no other embassy in Lebanon shut down during the conflict, and the Nigerian community has been left stranded even after a ceasefire was reached in November.

He lamented that efforts to seek assistance from embassy officials had been fruitless, with many Nigerians unable to replace documents lost during the conflict.

Nigerians have reported submitting their passports for renewal as far back as early 2023 without receiving any updates.

In response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained that the embassy in Lebanon had been temporarily relocated to Cairo during the war and blamed delays in passport renewals on outdated equipment at the Beirut office.

Ministry spokesperson Kimiebi Ebienfa noted that the machines for passport production in Lebanon had not been upgraded to the latest digital system, creating further delays. He assured that the issues would be resolved now that stability had returned to Lebanon.

The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Minister of Interior, Babatunde Alao, also acknowledged the challenges and promised that the ministry would prioritize addressing the backlog of passport renewals.

Despite these assurances, Nigerians in Lebanon remain skeptical as deportations and job losses continue to rise.