Due to sheer coincidence or divine benevolence, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner breezed into town recently at the head of a 30-member delegation on trade and investment mission as I sat in nervous apprehension in one corner of my home.
I was in a quandary about how to renew my Nigerian passport, which was due to expire shortly, on account of the daunting challenges.
Mayor Turner had come to “encourage the Federal Government to open a Nigerian Consulate in Houston”.
If the august visitor’s body language offered a guide, the 62nd mayor of Houston must have got something to write home about as he smilingly broke into springy dance to Kizz Daniel’s “Go Low Low Low, Buga Won” rhythm after being customarily decorated in a traditional Nigerian costume.
In a sense, the visit was intriguing because, as far as it is known, there had been no such a move since the two-term mayor took office in December 2015 and served concurrent four-year terms of a maximum of two.
Mayor Turner knows his onions. In his final year as Houston’s top leader, he had focused on finishing major projects and initiatives, including establishing a Nigerian Consulate.
Establishing a Nigerian Consulate in Houston is laudable and long overdue for several reasons.
As extra diplomatic representation in cities outside the capital, consulates are key tourist, economic or financial centres.
Consulates also perform such functions for nationals of their home countries as replacing or renewing their passports and processing visas for citizens of their host territory while promoting trade and economic relations.
Houston has one of the largest populations of Nigerians living in the United States. According to the US Census, between 2010 and 2021, the Nigerian population in Houston grew from over 21,000 people to nearly 64,000.
One reason is that Houston has a strong economy and job market coupled with clement weather, making it attractive to many immigrants, especially Nigerians looking for better opportunities.
Houston is the largest city in Texas and the fourth most populous city in the United States after New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago. It is a major centre for the oil and gas industry and a hub for health care and technology to which many Nigerian professionals are drawn.
As Africa’s second-largest oil and gas producer, Nigeria is a major exporter of crude oil to the United States of America.
An added thrill is that Houston has many universities, including Texas Southern University, University of Houston and Rice University, with many Nigerian students.
Sadly, with all the available statistics, Houston has lacked the favour of being considered by any Nigerian government as a location of a Nigerian Consulate up till now.
Consequently, for far too long, Nigerians in Houston have faced Hobson’s choice between salads and soup in matters of replacing or renewing their passports.
They have either had to fly from Houston to Atlanta in Georgia in addition to hotel accommodation or return to Nigeria and face the terrors associated with such a move.
Time was when the Nigerians could get such consular services with minimal inconvenience under the auspices of a Nigerian group.
All that came to grief in 2011 when a bitter fight broke out amongst the group’s leaders over power and control. A motley group later sprang up and filled the void.
Eager Nigerians, especially undocumented immigrants, periodically flooded specified centres in Houston at the behest of private groups for some consular services for a fee.
But the occasional nerve-wracking bedlam at such centres did not make the choice particularly attractive.
Many would rather face the cost and the rigours of flying over 689 miles from Houston to the Nigerian Consulate in Atlanta for the service.
How long will this anachronism rule the day instead of well-ordered consular service for Nigerians in a mega city like Houston?
Nigeria is not a banana republic; an elected government is in place.
President Bola Tinubu owes it a duty to posterity and honour his place in history by doing the needful to uproot any anachronism wherever found.
One way to start is to heed Mayor Turner’s appeal.
Aderinola, a former editor of the Daily Times, lives in Houston
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
WATCH TOP VIDEOS FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE TV
- Relationship Hangout: Public vs Private Proposals – Which Truly Wins in Love?
- “No” Is a Complete Sentence: Why You Should Stop Feeling Guilty
- Relationship Hangout: Friendship Talk 2025 – How to Be a Good Friend & Big Questions on Friendship
- Police Overpower Armed Robbers in Ibadan After Fierce Struggle
