I was on my way back to Amsterdam Schiphol airport after a trip outside The Netherlands when I saw a stern disappointing looking Nigerian lady at the Immigration border point standing with an immigration officer engulfed in a heated argument.

Having identified the lady as a Nigerian, I quietly approached them ready to offer my service as a fellow Nigerian. The immigration officer was relief when I identified myself as a Nigerian and quickly told me what the bone of contention was between them.

According to the Nigerian lady, she had applied for visa at the Holland embassy in Nigeria to visit her elder sister who is married to a Dutch man. The visa was granted and she flew on KLM flight directly from Lagos to Amsterdam. The Immigration officer standing in front of her controlled her at the border point and eventually stamped her in.

The officer on handling her passport back to her said “madam, you are welcome to The Netherlands”. The lady was shocked and immediately asked the officer again “what did you say?” The officer repeated the same thing and said “you are welcome to The Netherlands”.

The officer said at that moment the lady became paranoid and demanded to return back to Nigeria. The lady said she never wanted to come to The Netherlands because she knew nobody in The Netherlands. She applied for Holland visa and expected to be in Holland and not The Netherlands. Now the officer is telling her that she is in The Netherlands.

All efforts by the officer and some of his colleagues to convince the Nigerian lady that she was actually in Holland since it is also called The Netherlands fell on deaf ears until my arrival. I was able to convince the lady that Holland and The Netherlands are actually the same country!

She said she believed me because I was a Nigerian but didn’t believe the officers because they were Dutch and she felt they were only trying to lure her into their country (The Netherlands). This country is called Holland and also The Netherlands. The people are referred to as Dutch!