Nigerian Lady Raises Alarm as Immigration Form With Personal Data Used to Wrap Akara

A Nigerian woman identified as Oluwa Damisi has expressed outrage after discovering that her passport application form, which contains sensitive personal information, was used as akara (bean cake) wrapping paper.

Taking to her X (formerly Twitter) account, Damisi recounted the disturbing incident. She had submitted her application form to the Nigeria Immigration Service but was shocked when a stranger contacted her via WhatsApp with a photo showing the form being used to sell street food.

The stranger, who obtained her contact details from the form, messaged her and even proceeded to request personal photos, raising concerns about data protection and privacy.

Sharing a screenshot of the conversation, Damisi wrote:

“Omo @nigimmigration @NISResponseNG why is it so easy for someone’s privacy to be breached??! Someone just texted me on WhatsApp with a picture of my passport application slip, and it was used to sell akara.

The slip contains every single information about my life rn.

This is not even funny. The guy then asked for my pictures on top 🤦🏽‍♀️”

The post sparked widespread concern, with social media users criticizing the immigration service over poor data handling practices.

Public Reactions:

@RowlandJ_nior: “Okay I’m shocked at this one. And I noticed how you played cool with him, just to keep him sane.”

@Sam_Olayemi1: “Data breach is not peculiar to Nigeria. Even in the US and Europe, data breach happens. We can simply ask the government agencies to do better without denigrating Nigeria.”

@olatayoadewuyi: “If them explain Nigeria give you, you no fit understand.”

The post has since gone viral, reigniting discussions around Nigeria’s data protection and the accountability of public institutions.