NAN-H-18
Campaign
By Adekunle Williams and Solomon Asowata
Lagos, Sept. 12,2017 (NAN) A group, the Migration Enlightenment Project in Nigeria (MEPN), on Tuesday in Lagos inaugurated a campaign to raise public awareness on the dangers of irregular migration to Europe by Nigerians.
Mr Kenneth Gbandi, the Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation, Europe, said the campaign captioned “Look before you Leave,” was aimed at highlighting the opportunities for legal migration to Europe.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the campaign was initiated by the African-German Information Center (AGIC), Hamburg, and the African Courier Verlag, Berlin, with the support of Germany’s Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to Gbandi, it aims is to provide a realistic picture of the situation usually faced by irregular migrants in Europe.
He said that it was also to encourage youths to look at the positive alternatives to emigration available in Nigeria.
“Thousands of young Africans are victims of people-smugglers who deceive prospective emigrants into paying thousands of dollars for a supposedly easy passage to Europe through illegal routes such as Libya and Niger.
“This year alone, more than 2,500 migrants have perished in the Mediterranean, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
“Many more are believed to have died while travelling across the Sahara Desert or in the transit countries where they were exposed to harsh living conditions and widespread human rights’ abuses.
“A great number of these irregular migrants are Nigerians,” he said.
Gbandi said the rising cost of irregular migration had necessitated concerted actions from governments and voluntary groups to curb the trend.
He said citizens, who otherwise should be agents of national development, had been lost to irregular migration, adding that it had also affected the country’s image abroad.
Also speaking, Mr Femi Awoniyi, Director, MEPN, said the reality was that most Nigerians who were seeking asylum in the European Union would have their applications rejected.
“Nigerians have the highest rejection rate of asylum applications made by Africans in Europe, according to a 2016 report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
“The report stated that the21, 427 applications made by Nigerians were rejected last year alone,” Awoniyi said.
He also said that the German Ambassador to Nigeria, Bernhard Schlagheck, recently disclosed that 12,000 Nigerians were awaiting deportation from the country following the rejection of their asylum claims.
Also, Mrs Sadat Hassan, the Deputy Comptroller of Immigration, Nigeria Immigration Service, commended the organisers for their initiative in sensitising young Nigerians on the danger of irregular migration.
“This is what we have been advocating for. There is a great need to enlighten and educate our youths on how to travel responsibly and safely.
“Apart from the dangers they face en-route Europe from their home countries, they are also subjected to more pathetic treatments by their host countries for being irregular migrants,” she said. (NAN)
WAC/ASO/AAB/PAD
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Edited By Adeboye Ajayi/Peter Dada