15th March, 2013
The Nigeria Wheelchair Basketball Federation, NWBF has appealed to the South African High Commission in Lagos to waive some visa conditions for its athletes and officials travelling to South Africa.
The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN reports that the federation’s 12 players and five officials had since 2 Febuary filed their passports for visas for the U-23 championship in South Africa.
The federation’s Secretary, Victor Anusa, told NAN on Thursday in Lagos that the four-day competition would hold from 29 March to 3 April.
Anusa added that they planned to depart Nigeria on 26 March, to enable them acclamatise ahead of the tournament.
“The High Commission’s delays in processing visas is threatening our South African trip.
“The delay from the High Commission is no longer healthy to our plans, considering the short time left.
“We passed through a rigorous time of scrutiny at the High Commission, which is consuming our precious time in preparation for the competition.
“The rigours we have been going through in the last five weeks is frustrating and deliberately time-wasting,” he said.
The secretary said that the High Commission laid down some conditions for processing visas, which he said, the federation had satisfied some.
“The conditions are many and are not easy to come by, so the High Commission should waive the rest, because this is not the first time we will be in South Africa for competitions,” he said.
The secretary appealed to the High Commission to consider the physical conditions of the athletes, saying that it had been difficult for the federation to transport them to the High Commission’s office in Ikeja in the last five weeks.