Let not the one who puts on his armor boast like the one who takes it off! Each of us is fighting a battle of a kind but not all of us are winning. Those who lose count their chickens before they hatch, while those who win, though they come in many different varieties have one thing in common: they refused to let their personal struggles rob them of their destiny. Personal struggles come in different shades such as financial incapability, insecurity, unemployment, ego gratification, emotional wounds, etc and in a bid to seek an escape route, many resort to illegal migration. In 2016, no fewer than 30,000 Nigerian irregular migrants seeking greener pastures in Europe were rescued from the high sea in Italy, with many more stranded at the Land borders in Libya, Niger Republic among others.
Succinctly, we are all potential migrants largely due to economic, security and maybe educational reasons. Much more, the current global realities of poverty, insecurity, unemployment, inequality will continue to fuel the need to migrate at all cost-legal or illegal.
An evaluation of irregular migration(undocumented and illegal) by the International Organization for Migration, revealed that over 186,000 migrants entered Europe through unauthorized routes such as the sea and land in 2017. This, of course, does not capture the lives who were trapped or lost in the Mediterranean Sea, Sahara desert, borders, detention centers, and transit countries. The Migrant Project reports that over 2,000 deaths have been recorded on the Mediterranean Sea so far in 2018.
Truth be told, you’re not the product of your circumstances you’re the product of your decisions. Frustration is not an excuse…..frustration is a function of our expectations and our expectations are often a reflection of the social mirror rather than our own values and priorities. When we place undue expectations on one another we teach each other to pretend. Don’t live to impress rather live to express your uniqueness. Many illegal migrants unfortunately claim the search for greener pastures as the underlying need for migration, however, we cannot overlook the ugly hold of greed and impatience on these “desperados”. They sought solace in the shadow of illegal migration only to find out that it was a death trap.
Let not the one who puts on his armor boast like the one who takes it off..a word is enough for the wise! If you are still contemplating illegal migration, you would do yourself a big favor by learning from this real-life story. John(not real name) is a returnee from Libya, he returned last year. He narrated his experience of irregular migration with regret and disdain.
“ I paid Eight hundred thousand Naira (N800.000.00) to an agent to help me secure a US Visa but I later discovered that the agent was not honest with me. I demanded for my money to be returned, shockingly, the agent said he had spent all the cash and does not have any cash to give me rather he offered an alternative which is the Libya routes to Italy.
I agreed and joined them, we were a hundred and fifty(150) people that embarked on this journey. We all got to Libya safe. Two days after, we entered into one of those “balloons” to cross to Italy, as we were sailing, the said balloon boat stopped suddenly.”
According to John, they spent some hours waiting for help to come from nowhere in the middle of the night, after a while, the boat started to sink until it capsized and all 150 people onboard were struggling for survival in the sea. Luckily for them a boat appeared from nowhere and came to their rescue, at this time almost everyone onboard were gone except for John and Osaze who were still alive struggling with their last breath. That was how the two got rescued and were taken to one prison in Libya where some other illegal migrants like them were kept as slaves.
Inside the prison was a different life altogether, though happy to be alive but in a lion’s den. The rescuers happened to be smugglers who sell human parts especially kidneys and livers as the case may be. The terror was unbearable and both of them did not waste time in negotiating for their freedom. To cut the long story short, John bargained and was told to pay N2.7Million to get his freedom, which he did by calling his people back home to sell their properties to enable him to raise that money. He got his freedom at last after the payment along with Osaze.
Presently, John has started a recharge card sales in his neighborhood, he moves from shop to shop with his bike distributing recharge cards to his customers and he’s doing fine. John also campaigns against illegal migration.
Above all, John’s regret is the sad story of his friend who died in the sea named Kenneth, they both lived in the same neighborhood, his house is a street away from Kenneths’’, he revealed his fears that he does not have the heart to inform Kenneth’s wife of the incident. Since he returned he has been hiding from Kenneth’s wife and his five Children. Hmm…what a sad story! Refuse to be an illegal migrant! Don’t terminate your destiny…remember, you’re not the product of your circumstances, you’re the product of your decisions.
I buy the words of Enitan Ibironke, a seasoned Migration expert; “The winning strategy for those who desire to migrate out of Nigeria in search of greener pastures or other worthy causes is to seek professional counsel from The Migrant Project. The Migrant project provides information about migration to people on the move or considering migration. We help migrants make more informed decisions about their options based on trusted information.” Kindly contact the Migrant Project team for proper counseling. Please call the numbers: 08169229349, 08061637956, 09035136713 or visit- The Migrant Project on Facebook.
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