The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Europe

  • Libya blocks Nigerian migrants going to Europe

    Libya blocks Nigerian migrants going to Europe

    Despite accusations of slavery in Libya, Nigerian migrants are still flocking the North African country to reach Europe.

    Latest reports said the Libyan coastguard blocked 324 migrants, among them Nigerians, who were trying to reach Europe, using the Mediterranean Sea.

    They were picked up on Monday trying to leave on board two rubber boats.

    The migrants intercepted about seven miles off the western town of Zuwara on Monday included 35 women and 16 children, coastguard spokesman Ayoub Qassem said in a statement.

    They were mostly from four sub-Saharan countries: Chad, Nigeria, Mali, Ivory Coast.

    “There are some others from Tunisia, Pakistan and Morocco. There are also 32 persons including eight women and six children from Libya, and three families among them,” he said.

    The number of migrants crossing from Libya has dropped since July as Libyan factions and authorities – under pressure from Italy and the European Union – began to block departures, especially from the smuggling hub of Sabratha.

    But they have continued from the shoreline east of the capital, Tripoli, and dozens are thought to have died after a boat sank off Zuwara earlier this month.

    Zuwara was itself a major migrant smuggling hub until 2015, when there was a local backlash against smuggling after a boat thought to be carrying several hundred migrants sank.

    So far this year, just over 3,500 migrants have arrived in Italy from Libya, 62 percent fewer than during the same period last year, according to Italian interior ministry statistics.

    The top three nationalities declared by migrants arriving in Italy are Eritrean, Tunisian and Pakistani, followed by Nigerian and Libyan.

    The International Organisation for Migrants(IOM), along with the Nigerian government has been repatriating for several months now, thousands of Nigerians stranded in Libya.

  • Google pulls out 1.7 billion bad ads from sites

    Google pulls out 1.7 billion bad ads from sites

    Google pulled out 1.7 billion bad ads from sites with machine learning technology in 2016, an official, Ms Jenn Kaiser, has said.

    Kaiser, the Head of Ads PR, Europe, Middle East and Africa for Google and YouTube, gave the figure on Monday in Johannesburg, South Africa.

    She spoke on “Good Advertising, Our Products and Policies’’ at a Google Online Advertising Conference for Media Personnel.

    Read also: Google reaffirms commitment to Safer Internet for all

    According to the official, some of the bad ads are misleading and redirect someone to other sites.

    Kaiser assured the global business community that policy enforcement by Google would ensure that bad ads would not infiltrate sites easily.

    She said that Google would provide tools that would ensure good decision making for advertisers and publishers involved in online ads.

    “Google policies are evolving; this is to ensure that bad ads do not infiltrate sites easily.

    “This has to do with regulation changes from various countries, legal and user safety market trends and technology.

    “The changes are made through investigations, user feedbacks and market trends that have to do with emerging businesses,” she said.

    Kaiser said that the policy would be valuable and transparent for it to make the required impact.

    The official warned that one could be blocked from the Google ecosystem if seen as a constant defaulter, although access could be returned later.

    According to the official, by February 15, Google Chrome would have a feature that ensures good ads on sites in the North America and Europe.

    NAN

  • Monkeys have been successfully cloned in China

    Monkeys have been successfully cloned in China

    By Moses Emorinken

    Just when we thought we had seen the heights of innovations in science and technology, scientists in China have successfully cloned two monkeys.

    China, in its aggressive bid to become the leader in science and technological innovation, have resurfaced with another groundbreaking creation – the cloning of monkeys in methods similar to the first cloned animal by scientists in Scotland in 1996 – Dolly the sheep.

    The genetically identical long-tailed macaques born in Shanghai last month, called Zhong Zhong (8 weeks old) and Hua Hua (6 weeks old), are the first primate clones produced.

    In times past, there have been scattered successes in the cloning of mammals like mice, sheep and cattle; however, the cloning of monkeys which is the closest primate to human had proven unsuccessful. Most of the failed experiments produced poorly formed monkeys or cloned monkeys that died moments after their birth.

    The cloning of these identical monkeys, which is the biggest breakthrough in science at the moment have generated a groundswell of public opinions, praises and condemnation in every quarters.

    We are tempted to reason that the implication of this scientific success is that human cloning is now theoretically possible; one that might be perfected in few years to come.

    For the open-minded and science enthusiasts, it is a welcomed development; for the cultural and religious, it means crossing the line in the limits of God’s expectations for man. To them, man has begun to play God, which is a very sad development.

    According to Muming Poo, a co-author, who directs the Institute of Neuroscience at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Centre for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, “the technical barrier is now broken. In principle [this method] can be applied to humans”.

    Although the reason behind the monkey cloning program might not sit well with many in the scientific community who have raised concerns about animal ethics, Muming Poo however said that the cloned animals are to produce animal models useful for medicine, for human health; there is no intention to apply this method to humans.

    According to him, the ultimate goal is to clone monkeys on a large scale for use as test subjects because of their similarities to humans. These monkeys will be given specific diseases before they are born; this way, they can be used to test various treatments.

    It is not surprising that China is becoming a forerunner in science and technology, as it has almost doubled the number of its local universities in ten years and is heavy on state-funded research incentive programmes.

    China is poised to overtake the US and Europe in innovations in science and technology. Its aim is to become the number one innovator by 2030 and the undisputed leader in global science and technology by 2049.

  • Our best players are in Europe

    Our best players are in Europe

    I was tempted to title this week’s column ‘’Let’s boo Claude Puel.’’ I changed my mind because he isn’t well known. I pitied Puel since he is a stop-gap coach, who is on trial and doesn’t have the technical know-how to handle an innately gifted lad such as Nigerian international Kelechi Iheanacho. I can imagine the mental torture Puel subjected Iheanacho to as if Manchester City’s former manager made a mistake in recruiting the former Golden Eaglets star. Perhaps, there is the need to remind Puel that Iheanacho was the best player at the FIFA U-17 World Cup. He beat other players, including those from Europe. Iheanacho couldn’t suddenly become a bad player. But what do you expect from a coach who was suddenly sacked by Southampton?

    I just hope that Puel isn’t just biased given the way he pulled out Iheanacho from the Fleetwood Town game in the 80th minute. With the way the game was going, only Iheanacho could have scored for Leicester on Tuesday night. More experienced coaches would have left the Nigerian on the pitch to see if he would score a hat-trick, which could have helped his confidence. Not so with Puel, who must have been under pressure to justify his preference for Japanese Shinji Okazaki.

    On a level platform, especially with what Iheanacho exhibited, Puel will do better, if he finds a role for the Nigerian. Puel is fixated about Mahrez and Vardy. But Iheanacho’s intelligence and runs off the ball give him the edge over Okazaki. If Iheanacho gets the playing time Okazaki has, he will score more goals.

    Indeed, in a post-match interview on Tuesday, Iheanacho said: “You don’t need to get frustrated. Stick together and work hard every day. If the chance comes, you take it. That slowed things down a little bit. I am happy I am getting to come back. I am feeling better, stronger and working hard in training every day to progress. I hope I will have a very successful and injury-free second part of the season.

    “I am fit now and confident. We have so many more games to come. Keep working hard, and keep playing and help the team to achieve. Fans have seen a bit of me, I hope to continue like that in the future and in the games to come.

    “The first part of the season is gone and it is the second part now. I am happy to get the two goals and now hope to progress in the future. It gives me more confidence to play well, get back in the team and help them achieve great things in the future,” said Iheanacho.

    That is the spirit, dear Iheanacho. Keep training with all the vigour required, knowing that the Russia 2018 World Cup is the platform to showcase your talent and get bigger clubs with experienced coaches to free you from the Leicester bondage. What you did against Fleetwood shows that you are not a finished product nor did you waste Leicester’s money.

    Ahmed Musa left Kano Pillars as the best in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) to the home of beautiful football, Netherlands. His exploits took him to Russia from where he joined Leicester City after dominating the league.

    However, some players weren’t happy with the huge fee paid for his services and that led to the sack of Italian Claudio Ranieri. Today, Musa is hardly on the match-day squads for the Foxes – not because he is a bad player but because clueless Puel won’t give him a chance.

    If Iheanacho had not scored in the FA Cup third round replay against Fleetwood, perhaps, the manager would’ve justified why he left him on the bench since he arrived in October 2017.   What is the manager’s reaction to Iheanacho’s performance? Interesting.

    “Kelechi showed a good attitude, worked hard for his teammates and got between the lines. His first goal showed a lot of quality and the second was a fantastic move between him and Mahrez,” Puel told the club’s official website. Can you beat that? So, Puel, why did you not allow Iheanacho complete the game, when he was the best player on the pitch? What did Vardy and  Okazaki do better than Iheanacho when they came in? Nothing. Leicester’s game went down.

    Until Tuesday night, the argument was on the essence of inviting Iheanacho and Ahmed Musa to Nigeria’s World Cup camp if they aren’t playing for their clubs. What we have seen from Iheanacho’s case is that he is a victim of a manager’s warp selection. I always knew that but needed such feats as Iheanacho’s to stress that we need not judge our players by their club performances, especially when it comes to vying for shirts with their host country’s indigenous star. Not in a World Cup year, as such a country is also billed to participate. Our players must consider these variables in picking clubs they want to play for.

    Watching the CHAN Eagles play a draw against Rwanda was boring. Most fans hissed all through the game, making the argument that the players were unlucky not to have won the game laughable, given the pedigree of the two countries in world football. Not one player in the team showed any trait of being capable to handle World Cup matches. Those in Morocco are upstarts. Even if Nigeria wins the trophy, none of them, except the goalkeeper, Ikechukwu Ezenwa, can get a World Cup shirt.  It is clear now that our best players are in Europe, with the way borderline players such as Iheanacho played on Tuesday night.

    Advocates of having a Nigerian handler for the Super Eagles during big competitions such as the World Cup always talk about using the domestic league to judge the development of the game in Nigeria. Their submissions are laced with sentiments and patriotism, which don’t add up to growth when we are pitched against the rest of the world.

    Football isn’t as simple as kicking the round object around the field by 22 players for 90 minutes. Players’ skills and how they go about interpreting the instructions given to them by the coaches are sacrosanct. Where the coaches’ technical savvy is obtuse and dense, it reflects in how the boys play the game, which the greatest Edson Arantes do Nascimento once described as beautiful.

    Watching the Nigerian team groomed by our coaches can be boring and frustrating. Our game isn’t exciting, not because the players lack the skills. The players are as good as the coaches.  Our domestic players lack the basic rudiments of the game, such as controlling the ball and making good passes that could lead to goals. Besides, our playing pattern is laborious and lacks imagination, which make it not exciting.

    The structure of the domestic league is faulty and incapable of producing the desired results, especially where the administrators think they are the best. Our domestic league administrators, including the regulators, are self-serving and myopic. They are easily hoodwinked by what is found outside the country, without looking at our peculiarities. No deliberate effort is made to train and re-train the coaches and the auxiliary staff, in a bid to improve the quality of skills impacted on the players at all levels. This is why watching the domestic league  can be a nightmare.

    Rather than evolve a system that would enhance the growth of the game at the grassroots, our administrators prefer to roam European countries looking for templates which create more problems for the system, when the initiators leave office. Globally, clubs are encouraged to have academies where the youngsters are taught the rudiments of the game. These rookies become the future stars of such big teams, with the exceptional ones going to bigger teams, which translates to big revenues for the teams they have left.

    Unfortunately, our domestic clubs don’t think it is necessary to have youth teams. The management members have refused to see the league as a business. Rather than fashion how their teams can attract the fans to watch their matches, they are contented with taking government money.

    No investor will do the business of sports where the government holds over 70 per cent of its equity. The government, which owns most of the clubs, should encourage the team’s management to outsource their revenue. Sadly, the regulators of the domestic league like to err on the side of caution instead of enforcing the rules that encourage commercialisation of clubs’ operation, with particular reference of taking them to the Nigeria Stock Exchange.

    If it means having only five clubs which satisfy the rules of running as a professional outfit, let the league matches begin. With time, others will take it seriously and do what is required to qualify as a professional team. This idea of clubs owing their players and coaches wages of over nine months is cruel. Equally worrisome is the manner in which some governors whose states own the clubs behave towards them as if they are doing the players and coaches a favour by paying them as and when due.

    It was quite appalling to watch how a particular governor allowed his security operatives to manhandle players, especially the girls who stormed the Government House in a peaceful protest. They were beaten groggy and made to look like criminals, not sports ambassadors of the state, which is what they are. Don’t remind me that nothing is happening to the governor. Elsewhere, the ignoble act would cost him his future in politics.

  • ‘Nigerians have no reason risking death going to Europe’

    ‘Nigerians have no reason risking death going to Europe’

    MANY across the world still feel shocked about the needless deaths ensconced in the very risky trans-Sahara and deathly trans-Mediterranean migration from several sub-Saharan countries, including Nigeria. Traversing the complicated vastness of anomie, especially along the routes from Niger to Libya alone often results in precarious unintended consequences.

    Daily, there are reports of harrowing experiences including slave auctions, rape, extortion and other nasty difficulties being confronted by Nigerians embarking on a desperate and near-directionless search for a European golden fleece. However, without being Nigerian, some very knowledgeable people from distant origins enthusiastically express amazement about the profound possibilities within Nigeria.

    They see bewildering domestic possibilities for young people aiming to go far, even without leaving the shores of Nigeria. When such persons, especially diplomats from Europe organize for serious investors from their countries to come and explore opportunities here in Nigeria, they wonder why the sad and desperate flights of young people in the prime of life continues, even when the Federal Government and an agency like National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) persistently tries to dissuade them.

    One of such people who see Nigeria as a nation blessed with infinite opportunities for discerning young persons and unbounded possibilities for greatness is Ambassador Werner Senfter. From his viewpoints, it is easy to see that had he been a Nigerian, he would have qualified to be described as a patriotic one.“We see huge economic potentials here in Nigeria at the moment and there are many Austrian companies who believe in Nigeria’s economic future,” he told The Nation on Sunday.

    According to Senfter, lack of appropriate information or inability to access it may have contributed to illegal and risky flights abroad. Concurrently, he is Austria s ambassador to ten countries and ofall ten, his first choice is Nigeria. In addition, Ambassador Senfter is Austria’s Special Representative to ECOWAS, the regional economic union of fifteen West African countries comprising an area of 5.1 million square kilometres and an estimated population of over 349 million.

    From Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital, he coordinates Austria’s affairs across countries.“We have organized delegations of Austrian firms coming to explore investment opportunities here in Nigeria. An Austrian business delegation coming to Lagos is to be led by the head of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce. We anticipate a large

    delegation and there will be several discussions with potential Nigerian business partners,” he said in reference to existing prospects in Nigeria.

    He also described the extent of his responsibilities. “Other than Nigeria, I am in charge of Austria’s diplomacy in nine other countries and ECOWAS. The nine countries stretch from Ghana and end in the Central African Republic, or northwards from Chad Republic down to Gabon. Specifically, the countries that my responsibilities cover are Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, Togo, Chad, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome, Gabon and Central African Republic”.

    Born on 23 July 1970, his diplomatic career started at the Austrian Foreign Ministry where he served between 1996  1998. Senfter had served in various places, including Belgrade, Beijing and The Hague before being posted to Nigeria in August, 2016.How pronounced does he think the problem of illegal migration to Europe is and what can he say about the odds against Nigerians who still nurse such agenda?

    “With regard to such challenges, we have been working with the National Agency for The Prohibition of Trafficking In Persons (NAPTIP) and we have effective arrangements for exchange of information with them.“Most Nigerians who come to Europe illegally do so by entering through Italy. Some of them head for Austria where they file applications for asylum.

    “However, as there are usually no credible reasons in such applications, most of these applications cannot be considered and such Nigerians sooner or later find out that they have to leave Austria,” he said. According to the Austrian ambassador whose country now has a 31 year-old ‘wunderkind’, Sebastian Kurz, who rode a wave of anti-immigrant anxiety to become Austria’s Chancellor and the world’s youngest leader; the best bet for any young person seeking to live in Europe is to have solid education and highly-needed expertise.

    “I think the best way for them to actualize the dream of living in Europe, within the framework of their possibilities, is for them to empower themselves with education.“It is education, education and education as far as possible because this will be the basis or solution to quite a number of problems they would otherwise encounter,” Ambassador Senfter advised.

  • Charge d’Affaires – Some Nigerians unwilling to return from Libya

    Charge d’Affaires – Some Nigerians unwilling to return from Libya

    Charge d’Affaires of Nigeria in Libya, Mr Illiya Fachano, says some Nigerians in Libya have refused to be repatriated inspite of the “unfavourable situations.”

    Fachano revealed on Thursday that  “not all of them (Nigerians) want to come back home”.

    “Before you can assist them, they will have to sign a consent form, after which emergency travel certificates are issued.

    “I want the public to know that we have some Nigerians who are not willing to return inspite of the unfavourable situations and the fact is that we can’t get them on the flight without their consent”.

    “Migration is a natural and has always happened but becomes an issue when there are people migrating illegally meaning the migrants arrive without proper documentations and conceal their identity.

    “What we do is identify the Nigerians in the camps, register them then issue them an emergency travel certificate but those who happen to be sick get medical treatments before being confirmed to fly.

    “The Internationl Organisation for Migration ( IOM ) has rallied support of the European nations and particularly Italy for the Libyan Coast Guards who are particularly ordered to prevent boats that smuggle migrants and refugees from Libya to Europe.

    “The fact that the coast guards at the Mediterranean Sea are professionally trained and well funded by the EU, they have captured many people who are trying to illegally cross to Europe and returned them to Libya.

    “Unfortunately, we have noticed that in every batch of people brought back to Libya from Europe or the Mediterranean Sea, a larger number of the migrants come from Nigeria because of our population causing us to have much more Nigerians to be repatriated,’’ he said.

    The charge d’affaires said it is worrisome that with all the efforts of the government to rescue stranded migrants, more Nigerians are still trying to go to these places hoping that they will be lucky in achieving their European dream.

    Read also: 3250 have been repatriated from Libya – FG

    The Federal Government said yesterday, that it has so far identified 2,778 Nigerians trapped in the Libyan detention camps.

    Of this figure, government said 250 were repatriated on December 5.

    So far the government said 3,250 have so far returned from the Libyan enclave.

    Foreign Affairs ministry spokesman, Tiwatope Elias-Fatiile, said that the 2778 were Nigerians

    identified in detention camps that embassy officials had been visiting.

    Those registered in these camps, the spokesman said, While the government indicated that the repatriation exercise was a continuous exercise.

    The government said it would continue to engage the legitimate government in Libya and other stakeholders in addressing the plight of Nigerian migrants in that country.

    NAN

     

  • Surge of illegal migration caused by failure of critical institutions – Obaseki

    Surge of illegal migration caused by failure of critical institutions – Obaseki

    The Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has said the current surge in illegal migration is as a result of the lack of critical institutions to equip youths with requisite skills to survive in a globalised world.

    Obaseki said this when he received Senior Participants of Course 40, Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, led by Rear Admiral Kamarudeen Lawal, who were on a courtesy visit to Government House, Benin City.

    Obaseki said practical steps must be taken to control Nigeria’s population and opportunities created to engage youths to stem the menace of illegal migration and avert future crisis.

    He said President Muhammadu Buhari’s efforts at diversifying the economy has created opportunities for youth empowerment.

    He explained that there is a strong linkage between education and youth empowerment, and that it was unfortunate that politicians often fail to emphasise the importance of basic education in moulding minds that can make informed decisions.

    “People that had no business in classrooms were hired to teach in primary schools. This created a generation, where illiterates taught children while they are at critical stage of their life,” he said.

    Noting that there was need for reorientation of youths to be self-driven and motivated, he said, “Part of the challenges we deal with today are caused by youths, who have not been given quality education at the foundation level – that is, basic education – as this level of education prepares one to face the challenges of life.”

    He said Edo people are confident, but some of the youths are deceived by people who lure them with tales of better life outside the country.

    “Statistics shows that last year alone, over 10,000 youths from Edo State alone were trafficked to Europe and at least 3,000 of them would have died traveling through dangerous routes to Europe. This certainly is a threat to national security. Our people are sold as slaves,” he added.

    Obaseki said his administration is encouraging indigenes of the state to come home as his government has built structures to reintegrate them into society, noting, “As they come, we now have an opportunity to retrain them, using them as ambassadors to dissuade others from embarking on the dangerous journey”.

    Earlier, the team leader of the tour to Edo State, Rear Admiral Kamarudeen Lawal, commended the governor and people of the state for the hospitality and warm reception the team received on arrival, stating that they are billed to visit eight other states.

    He said the College makes annual environmental study tours to selected states, as part of its curriculum for the Senior Course for the College, adding, “During the visit, students of the College are expected to research into critical areas of the social economic life of the people that have direct impact on national development or national security.”

    He explained that the theme for this year’s tour is “National Security and Youth Empowerment,” and said that the visit will afford students opportunity to carry out on-the-spot assessment of the Edo State Government’s efforts to empower youths for national security and development.

  • I am happy to be back, says 17 years old Libya deportee

    I am happy to be back, says 17 years old Libya deportee

    A 17-year old girl identified as Blessing Sunday has narrated how she survived harrowing experience in the desert in her quest to get to Europe.

    Blessing was among the 147 Nigerians that were recently deported from Libya and was brought to Edo State by the Edo State Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force headed by Professor Yinka Omorogbe.

    The Task Force took delivery of 83 deportees and lodged them in a hotel with a view to rehabilitate them.

    She was all tears when she spoke of how her father sold his belongings to raise money to bail her after she was abducted and kept in a cell in Libya.

    Blessing stated that she dropped out school in Junior Secondary School I and went to learn a skill in hair dressing before a woman offered to assist her to travel abroad.

    She said several persons in the three Hilux vans they boarded from Kano to Libya died due to starvation and thirst.

    “When we got to Libya, I was kidnapped. They made me go call my father and he sold his property to set me free. I am the last child of the family and we don’t have anything at home now.

    “There was no food or water in the trip. You see people dying. We bought provision and water and I managed my own in order to survive. My father sold all his property to enable me get to the seaside. I didn’t enter boat on the sea.”

    Another returnee who gave his Micheal Ogbebor and had Plaster of Paris on his two hands said he broke his two hands when the ‘White house’ in Suprata they were staying was attacked.

    Micheal said he used to wash cars in Lagos from where he raised the sum of N300,000 with which he traveled to Libya.

    “We met problem in Libya. I spent eight years to save the N300,000 I used to travel. In Libya, people were always kalabushing each other. That is tracking each other boat. I have not entered the boat when I was rescued and brought back. I wanted to jump from a storey building when I fell.

    “They came and saw that I was finished so they left me. It was the UN that came and took me to the hospital.”

    Barr. Omorogbe who doubles as the State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice said the gesture of the state government was to show that there were good things here.

    She stated that the deportee would be kept in the hotel for some days.

     

  • Going to Europe? Not through Libya

    The current humanitarian crisis in Sabratha, Libya, has once again brought the precarious situation of migrants in the North African country to the fore. The coastal city is one of the main departure points for migrant boats attempting to make the perilous journey to Europe across the Mediterranean Sea.

    The staffs of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and UNHCR (the UN refugee agency) have been working around the clock since early October to meet the emergency needs of thousands of migrants, including pregnant women and new-born babies, in Sabratha, located 80 km west of Tripoli.

    After the smoke cleared following three weeks of fighting between rival militia groups in September, humanitarian helpers were shocked to discover about 14,500 migrants in the city. They had been detained by a militia group, a big player in the migrant smuggling business, in different locations including farms, houses and warehouses in and around Sabratha.

    Libyan authorities estimate that an additional 6,000 migrants and refugees are still being held by smugglers in the city. If confirmed, this would bring the total number of refugees and migrants held in Sabratha to 20,500, including those in official detention centres, the IOM said on October 17.

    The ordeal that the freed migrants, most of whom are sub-Saharan Africans –mainly from Nigeria, Eritrea, Mali, Senegal and Guinea, have gone through is heart-wrenching.

    UNHCR representatives have described images of “suffering and human abuse on a shocking scale”. Many of the migrants were visibly traumatized; most have suffered abuse including sexual and gender-based violence, forced labour and sexual exploitation.

    Many were suffering from all manners of illnesses, with some bearing bullet wounds and other visible signs of physical abuse. Not to talk of their general malnourishment; hundreds said they had not eaten for days.

    In fact, the UN has had to send emergency aid of 100,000 meals and other relief materials to the city to take care of the migrants before they are transferred to official detention centres by the Libyan authorities for further assistance.

    The reality is that the suffering of the migrants will only continue in these centres. Several international organisations have published credible reports, documenting regular and severe human rights violations of refugees and migrants in the so-called official detention centres.

    The situation of irregular migrants in Libya which in better times was always precarious has assumed a crisis proportion. This is why.

    The UN-backed Government of National Unity in Tripoli issued a directive in August, compelling NGO rescue ships to seek official permission before entering Libya’s waters to carry out rescue operations. The directive has severely curtailed the activities of these humanitarian organisations and three of them – MSF (Doctors without Borders), Save the Children and Germany’s Sea Eye – have withdrawn their vessels altogether.

    This means lesser search-and-rescue missions for capsized boats and increasing fatalities among those crossing the Mediterranean. IOM reported on September 28 that 2,655 migrants have drowned in the Mediterranean so far this year.

    In fact, given their choice of vessels, such as inflatable boats which are not built for the high seas or to travel long distances, the smugglers know too well that these boats are not able make the perilous, 300 kilometre journey to Europe. Their murderous gamble is that their helpless victims will be rescued along the way.

    Italian technical support for the Libyan Coast Guard has also enabled a better monitoring and patrolling of the North African country’s maritime borders.

    Moreover, inhabitants of coastal towns tired of seeing dead bodies of migrants, whose boats had capsized in the Mediterranean, washing up on their beaches are reported to be forming vigilante groups to curb the activities of people smugglers.

    All of these developments mean lesser numbers of boats are able to depart from Libya, trapping migrants in the country. In August, about 2,936 migrant arrivals were recorded in Italy compared with 21,294 in August last year, representing a sharp drop of 86 per cent.

    International organisations estimate that between 800,000 and one million migrants are in Libya desperate to make the dangerous crossing across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe and, they hope, to a better life. The fact is, Libya is fast becoming a dead-end for migrants.

    In a country with two governments competing for legitimacy and hundreds of armed militias who are not controlled by either of the factional authorities, Libya is a de facto lawless place. While that’s bad enough for Libyans, migrants bear the full brunt of the unfortunate situation in the North African country.

    This explains why migrants, especially sub-Saharan migrants, are exposed to widespread and sometimes horrendous human rights abuses, including slave labour, rape, physical violence and arbitrary killings. Not to talk of their miserable living conditions.

    In April, IOM reported how migrants are traded for slave labour and ransom among people trafficking criminal networks in Libya.

    Would-be migrants travelling to Libya now risk getting caught up in the country’s nightmare of instability and lawlessness. They face certain dangers to life and limb and risk losing their lives.

    The ongoing crisis challenges society to seriously address the issue of irregular migration because of its rising costs to families, communities and the nation at large.

    Migration is a fact of the human experience. And it’s perfectly legitimate to seek greener pastures outside one’s homeland. However, it’s important that would-be migrants get well informed about where they want to go, how to get there legally and, importantly, the reality that awaits them in their country of destination. This will enable them to make smart, fact-based choices.

    Most of the young people trapped in the process of irregular migration are victims of human smugglers who lured their unsuspecting clients with false promises into difficult situations without easy exits.  These criminals are more interested in making quick money than ensuring the safety and well-being of their vulnerable customers.

    The lesson of the ongoing Libyan crisis is that migration can only bring the desired success when it’s well considered and planned otherwise it can lead to nightmare.

     

    • Awoniyi is director of Migration Enlightenment Project Nigeria.
  • 826 Nigerians voluntarily returned from Libya in one month – NEMA

    826 Nigerians voluntarily returned from Libya in one month – NEMA

    The National Emergency Management Agency ( NEMA ) says a total of 826 Nigerians stranded in Libya, enroute Europe, voluntarily returned from the North African country in October.

    The Director General of NEMA, Alhaji Mustapha Maihajja, made the disclosure while receiving a fresh batch of 270 Nigerians who arrived the country on Tuesday.

    Maihajja, represented by the South West Zonal Coordinator of the agency, Alhaji Suleiman Yakubu, said the returnees were assisted back to Nigeria by the International Organisation for Migration ( IOM ) and the European Union ( EU ).

    He said that the fresh batch added to 138 Nigerians earlier brought back on Oct. 3; 257 on Oct. 24 and 161 on Oct. 26 made the total number of returnees in October 826.

    The NEMA boss urged the returnees to contribute their quota to national development, stressing that the quest to build Nigeria required the support of all and sundry.

    NAN reports that the new set of returnees arrived the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos at 7.30pm aboard a Libyan Airline aircraft with registration number 5A-LAU.

    They comprised 216 female adults, 13 teenage girls and five infants, while the male adults were 27, 18 were teenage boys and nine, baby boys.

    Other agencies which received the returnees were the Nigerian Immigration Service ( NIS ), the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons ( NAPTIP ), the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria ( FAAN ) and the Police.

    NAN