The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Homecoming agony

  • Homecoming agony (2): Concern over how deported sick migrants, ex-convicts are managed

    By Innocent Duru

    On August 19, this year, Germany deported a crop of Nigerian migrants who had gone to the European country to seek greener pastures. Among the deportees, according to Nigerian envoy to Germany, Peter Lambat, were some convicts who had finished serving prison terms for committing violent crimes. The deportees also included sick people who came back with heaps of medications given to them by physicians in Germany.

    Surprisingly, none of the deportees was subjected to any check by the Nigerian authorities as they were secretly whisked out of the airport. The denial by the Nigeria Immigration Service that the deportation took place apparently shows that the system is porous and prone to allowing deportees find their ways into the society without minding their health conditions and criminal records and the attendant implications for the country.

    Findings showed that what happened on that very day was a usual practice, especially when it affects deportees and expelled migrants. One of the August 19 deportees, Mike, who said he was nursing health challenges before his deportation, said no government agency attended to them when they arrived. “No government agency came to say anything to us. We were only welcomed by Nigerian Immigration Service officials on arrival.

    They said: “Welcome home brothers and sisters” and that was all. I wanted to even report what I experienced in the hands of the Nigerian Embassy over there but a lady I met said I should explain to one oga. “When I met the man, he said I should go and explain to one man over there. They kept tossing me around and I said, ‘What is going on?’ At the end, they said I should put it in writing and send it to Abuja. I feel disappointed about the attitude of the immigration officers.

    I left Nigeria several years ago and I’m sad that I came back to see it in a very bad situation. “Inside the plane, there was a guy who was sick and was being given injections by the doctor attached to him. While we were still in Germany, we heard that a guy on a wheelchair was deported in July and was frustrated at the airport for three days because none of his relations was aware of his arrival,” he said. Esther, a migrant who was deported on July 25, this year, also said she was nursing health challenges before her deportation but got no attention on return to the country.

    She told The Nation that her health challenges assumed a worrisome dimension when she arrived the country, adding: “I can’t even explain what they gave to my son and because from that very day, we started vomiting and stooling. My son is still having some challenges now.” An airport worker, who identified himself simply Emma, said many deportees dumped outside the airport are always exhibiting all manners of health challenges. “When you see some of these people, you will pity them because aside from psychological challenges which they expectedly manifest, you will see a number of them showing disturbing signs of ill-health. We have seen those with mental challenges abandoned here, and also seen some with other with visible health problems too loitering here because they had nowhere to go. “Allowing these people to just find their ways into the society has grave implications.

    Some of them could have contagious health issues that could affect innocent citizens. Those who were into all manners of criminality will easily go back to it on arrival because they have nothing to fall back on.” Another worker at the airport, who gave his name as Ohens, described the system at the arrival point as too loose. “ The attitude of Nigerian authorities towards deportees and expelled migrants is always horrible.

    Most of the deportees are brought in and moved out of the airport quietly. They are always dumped outside the Hajj Camp from where they were expected to find their ways to their various homes and relations. “The immigration service doesn’t subject them to checks to know if they have sicknesses or have criminal records. This has a grave implication because those who have serious health issues could spread it.

    Those who have not so much money could go home and die in the long run if they do not have the means to take care of themselves.” The Director of the Centre for Youth Integrated Development, Aihawu Victo, also frowned at the development. “Most of these people didn’t leave this country as criminals, drug addicts or rapists. They developed those characters over there and Nigeria is just receiving them without proper monitoring. Nobody monitors them; when they enter the country they disappear and that is all,” he said.

    Retired Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Abubarkar Tsav, said it is dangerous to allow deportees with criminal records to find their ways into the society without checks. His words: “Deportees who have criminal records should be kept in custody when they come before they are released into the society. When they come with that mentality, they contaminate this area again.

    They would continue with their crime.” For those who have already found their ways into the society, Tsav said, the government could still do something to arrest the situation. “What government should do about those who have found their way into the society is to try and inquire about their lives. If there is need to rehabilitate them, they should do so. Definitely, they must need some rehabilitation. Why should the country not accept them when they return? They are our people. It is only if they have no passport that they can be denied entry into the country.”

    A medical expert and principal partner of Kamyk Clinic, Dr Monsurat Kadri, said the development portends grave health risks to The Nation. “ There are lots of implications when deportees are allowed to enter the society unchecked. The most important is the spread of infections such as tuberculosis, Hepatitis, HIV, among others. Apart from infections, we also talk of lifestyle influence. Most of these deportees might have committed offences and incarcerated in inhuman conditions which may affect the way they relate with the society if they are allowed to enter the community without screening or rehabilitation. They need psychological and physical rehabilitation. As a result of their experiences, they pry on innocent citizens and may actually corrupt the young ones by recruiting as their foot soldiers.

    The innocent young ones may only be carried away by the fact that the deportees came back from abroad. The deportees could also constitute economic burdens as they have no jobs and accommodation. They also serve as security risks as they are not quarantined and cannot be traced. Government will have to have a database for whoever is deported. They should be screened for diseases, quarantined and rehabilitated before they are reintegrated back to the society. The government should also provide training and empowerment for them so that they can engage in something meaningful to make both ends meet. .

    NDLEA, Immigration, NCFRMI react

    National spokesperson of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Sunday James, in a telephone chat with The Nation, said the service has never failed in its responsibility of giving the needed attention to deportees and others coming into the country. “When people are deported, they come to the immigration and we refer them to the appropriate quarters. If it is an EFCCrelated issue, we refer them and if it is drug-related issue we send them to the NDLEA.

    The quarantine workers are there at the airport to attend to the people on arrival. “The same way they check ebola, that is how they check people coming in. it is only when the officials are not there we can quickly call their attention that they need to be on ground. But I don’t think they can desert their duty for any reasons. “The deportees are Nigerians and they would be rehabilitated.

    Definitely, the government would always take care of them and rehabilitate them. You can’t refuse them coming back to their country. It is just like you going back to your father’s house. Nobody can stop you from going to your father’s house just because you are sick.” In a separate telephone chat, the national spokesman of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA., Jonah Achema, said the agency has from time to time had deportees with drug cases referred to it. ”We have deportees referred to us on a regular basis.

    They are arrested abroad not necessarily because they moved drugs from Nigeria to those places. They are arrested because they went into drugrelated activities while in those countries. “Each time they are arrested, they are made to serve a jail term and then returned to Nigeria. Sending them to us is for us to document them and keep tab on their activities thereafter.

    There is this argument that they should be tried in Nigeria again but there is this international human rights policy of double jeopardy, where one doesn’t need to serve jail term twice for a single offence. “Once they are deported, we keep tab on their activities to ensure that they are no longer continuing with their criminal activities. I can assure you that they are always in good numbers. We refer to this as an equal opportunity criminality. “Incidentally some of them go under the guise of studying abroad. As I am talking to you, we have what we call visa clearance strategy.

    As you are travelling abroad to study, we would screen you. Before you are even granted visa, we would screen you, ask for guarantors who must be responsible people in the society and who ordinarily would not subscribe to somebody going abroad to commit crime. “There is nobody who has passed through strategy that has been found wanting.

    I can tell you that over 5, 000 to 6, 000 visa applicants have to pass through us, especially as it affects about 15 countries that we have memorandum of understanding with to that effect. When deportees referred to us for drug cases come, they stay with us for a day or two.” The Director, Refugee and Migrants at the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and IDPs, Hamidu Lawal, also gave details of how the organsation works with sister organisations to attend to deportees.

    “If you are talking about deportation, it always has to do with criminal offences. If they have criminal history, They would be incarcerated in the place they are coming from; when they are coming here, their names and other details would be communicated to Nigeria and then, other records would follow. . “It is not a matter of dumping them here. Medical checks are also done. If people have health issues that are deemed to be serious, they would not be deported. We have a system to save this people.

    We have all stakeholders, including health officials, immigration, and others are always there to receive them. “We have different categories of people coming back. We have deportees; there are returnees and there are evacuees and we have different people seeing them. It is against the law to bring back people with serious health challenges. But if it is something that is manageable, you will come with the history and we would take over here.

  • Homecoming agony 1: Returnees bemoan failed promises by UN body, govt to empower them

    •Condemnation trails exclusion of deportees, expelled migrants from trainings
    •Large return of migrants may worsen insecurity- House Committee Chair
    on Migration and Refugees •We have trained, empowered over 7, 000
    returnees this year ­–National Commission for Refugees director

    No fewer than 15, 000 stranded Nigerian migrants have in the last two years voluntarily returned to the country with the assistance of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), a United Nations migration agency . The IOM in July 2017 said roughly 3,800 Nigerian migrants would receive in-kind reintegration assistance to start businesses, study or cover medical and accommodation costs after they return home from other African countries (an estimated 3,000 migrants) and from EU member states (800 migrants) over a period of three years (2017 to 2020). This, according to the organisation, represents a major scale-up in the reintegration assistance that IOM provided previously. More than one and a half years after their return, many of the returnees are yet to get the expected empowerment from IOM even after attending the reintegration programme facilitated by the organisation. The returnees’ woes are compounded by the failure of government to fulfil myriads of promises made to them on return to the country. With the number of migrants coming back to the country constantly increasing, INNOCENT DURU, in this report, examines the implication for the socio-economic and security situation of the country.

    After a hellish experience during her turbulent sojourn in Libya, Anthonia heaved a sigh of relief when the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) came to evacuate her and other stranded migrants in the North African country back home to Nigeria.

    Anthonia’s joy was not just that she was returning home unscathed, she was elated that after all she had suffered, there was hope that she would later have something to fall back on because she was voluntarily returned by the IOM.

    Her confidence level rose when she was invited to participate in a reintegration programme by IOM in Lagos, after which she would be empowered. But that never came.  Her vivacity gradually fizzled out after a long time of fruitlessly waiting for IOM’s support.

    “I was part of the people brought back by IOM. When we came back, they promised that they would support us by starting businesses for us.  I was part of the reintegration programme but I wasn’t empowered.  I came back last year April.  They accommodated us during the training and also reimbursed us for the money we spent on transportation.  The training I attended was held in Lagos and I was given N5, 000 for transportation.

    “They have not given me anything after that time.  I have been in touch with them. They said they would support and asked me to provide some documents.  I have been on it but the latest I heard from them was that they have transferred my case to another person.  They have not replied me since then. I am acquiring skills in fashion designs.   I have not received any support from the government,” she said in a tone laden with disappointment.

    Anthonia is not alone in this. Sifahu Lasisi, who also came back through the Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR), also  spoke of how her hope of  bouncing back to financial independence through the support of IOM was dashed.

    “I attended the training at IOM’s office located at Isaac John’s Street, Ikeja.  They trained us on how to do business and make profit. For the six days we spent  going to take part in the training, I was paid N6, 000.  I have not received further help thereafter. I had gone to their office several times  but nothing came out of it.  I was forced to give up. I have nobody to help me.”

    Also reliving his frustration waiting for IOM’s support, another returnee brought back under the AVRR programme, Christian, said:  “I came back last year. I was one of the people brought back by IOM. I took part in the reintegration programme.  I spent about a week attending the programme. They taught us some hand work but I told them that I am a driver.

    “I have not been able to reach IOM officials after the training. I don’t even have their contact anymore.  When we returned to the country, they promised us that they would empower us but I have not heard anything from them. I am surprised and disappointed.

    “I have been helping people to wash car since I came back just to make both ends meet. I want the government to assist us. I am a driver and need a job to earn a living.” It was the same sad tale for Vitalis who also took part in the IOM’s reintegration programme. “I attended the training but got no support thereafter,” he said.

    When The Nation called one of the numbers of the IOM officials, who was identified as Tope, to know why the returnees have not been empowered in line with the organisation’s  mandate,  he rhetorically asked:   “What are  their names? Who gave you my number? The person who gave you my number should call me.  I don’t know how you got my number.  I can’t respond to that question.  Who are those people? Give me their names. Please oga, Iam very busy.  I can’t answer that your question I beg o. I should know the people that made the allegation.”

    Our correspondent subsequently asked Sifahu who provided the IOM official’s mobile to call him.

    The embattled returnee later called to inform our correspondent that Tope neither  answered  her call nor called back. “He also did not respond to a text message I sent to him,” Sifahu said disconsolately.

    The Nation subsequently contacted the European Union office in Nigeria to find out why some of the migrants who voluntarily returned with IOM were yet to be empowered.

    The International Aid/Cooperation Officer Migration, Drugs and Organised Crime, EU Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS,  Eleni Zerzelido, declined speaking on the phone but on two occasions requested that our correspondent should send messages  to her.

    As at the time of filing this report, Eleni was yet to respond to the messages sent via  WhatsApp and regular text message.

    The EU and the IOM entered into a partnership for the Protection and Reintegration of Migrants, which was launched in Nigeria on 20 July, 2017. The European Union Trust Fund (EUTF) support is part of the EU–IOM Initiative.

    Returnees lament successive governments’ failed promises

    The frustration of not being empowered by  IOM for many of the returnees is bearable compared to the failure of  successive governments in the country to make good their promises to the beleaguered migrants.

    Some of the returnees in Edo State told The Nation how they went into agriculture to make both ends meet and shun the temptation of embarking on  another round of irregular migration but got no support. They recounted how they formed cooperative societies to  enable them access loans but ended up disappointed.

    One of the leaders of the cooperative groups, Pastor Dongo, said: “ I am the head of  Victory Farmers Cooperative Society. We are into fish farming. I actually head two cooperative groups and both are into fish farming. We have not received any support from any government. Edo State government under Obaseki trained us  but we are yet to be empowered.   When they made the promises to us, we were praising them all over the social media but at the end nothing came out of it.

    “This is why most of us went to hustle on our own.  It has not been easy hustling without support.  I attended training on fish farming for good three months, wasting all my money on transportation. Some of my cooperative members don’t have money. I have to foot their bill in order to encourage them.  At the end, like I said, we are just at the mercy of fate. We only thank God that we are still alive.”

    Expressing fears about the large number of jobless returnees in the country, Dongo said: “The situation of things in the country is an eyesore. In my area, once it is 7 O’ clock,  you will not see a single fly outside. Yesterday (Tuesday),  there were gunshots  for good three hours. Things are getting out of hand.

    “The major problem of our youths is unemployment and hunger. I believe strongly that if our youths are empowered and they work during the day, they would sleep at night.  But when they are idle in the day, they would be busy at night.

    “Some of my members have been expressing the desire to  travel again but being a pastor, I have been talking to them, giving them hope that one day,  God will help us. Some of them have started learning how to repair generators and other skills. Nobody has left in my group but  it cannot be zero per cent in all the groups. Some will come today and in the next three months, they are back again.”

    For Chidi, the head of   Fish Farmers Cooperative Society, it was endless lamentation as he relives the ordeal of his members .  “No government  has ever empowered us. We are a registered body and we have our certificate. Since the expected empowerment from the govern ment didn’t come through, we are operating individually, but we hold meetings from time to time. We are not happy with the state of things. It is because of lack of support that the cooperative society is not functioning the way it should be.

    “It is not everybody in the group that has the money to start the business of fish farming. It is those whose parents helped to raise funds that have started farming.  Our personal efforts are grossly insufficient but instead of staying back and doing nothing, we have decided to be productive and take care of our families. We have made efforts to get loans from a new generation bank we opened an account with but nothing came out of it after they had tossed us up and down,” he said.

    Chidi suddenly became emotional as he recounted how some of his frustrated members have perished trying to make another attempt at going abroad. “Many of our members have gone back through the desert to places like Morocco because there was no hope of empowerment from the government.  Many of them even died in the process because they there was nobody to assist them.”

    When The Nation cornered Tony Jimoh, the leader of Snail Farming Cooperative Society, he told of how  they registered the group last year with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, adding: “We are 27 in my group.  Some other groups have 27 members each too.  Our farmland is more than four hectares.  We contributed money to get the land.  Nobody has given us any support since we started.  They have only been promising to assist without fulfilling it.  They only brag and do nothing.  We came back from Libya in 2011. We started the group in 2013 but it was not registered.  It has been promises galore since then till this time.”

    Former leader of the Nigerian Migrants in Tripoli, Libya, Sidi Yakubu, who is based in Kogi State, also said: “Government has done nothing to empower us.  I came back in 2011 and have received no form of assistance since then. I came in on as a diplomatic returnee. I have been on the street since I came back. I have been part of one or two civil society groups which have helped in one way or the other.

    “There are dangers in continuously bringing people back without providing jobs for them. They could be used as thugs during election period and can be engaged in criminal activities.  The way out is for the government to train and empower returnees and give them a conducive environment to operate in.   I went to Libya legitimately. I worked there for eight years with an international organisation.  I couldn’t take the risk of staying back there because my life was at risk.  The rebels  raided my house and brought it down.

    We have been training, empowering returnees- National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and IDPs (NCFRMI)

    The Director,  Refugee and Migrants at the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and IDPs (NCFRMI) , Hamidu Lawal, in a chat with our correspondent, dismissed the allegations of the returnees, saying that the commission has always trained and empowered returnees. “We actually do empowerment, which we call Durable Solution.  We don’t it not only for migrants but also for IDPs  and persons of concern.  This empowerment is in phases. When migrants  return, we do NEEDS Assessment.

    “We aggregate their needs, knowing those who want to go to school and those who want to do other things.  We take an aggregate of whatever they want to do.  Most of these returnees, especially those stranded in Libya and Cameroon are adults who want to do something  for livelihood and not education.  We have a training skill for them, which we do together with our partners like the IOM and others”.

    This year, he said, “We have trained over 7, 000 of them.  We do this sometimes on our own and sometimes with our partners. Thereafter, we empower them.  If you want to open a shop, we will get a shop for you, buy the goods and pay the rent for at least two years.  We paid rent for those who came back from Cameroon; we gave them food for six months and empower them in a trade after training.

    “When they come back, we take them back to their local communities or any communities they choose to stay in and we empower them from there.  Last week, we set up a cooperative group in Numan, Adamawa State.  It is a rice milling cooperative.  We set up the cooperatives and gave them the machines and capital to do their work.  We are going to do the same thing in oil mill in Adamawa State.  We teach others on how to make soap and other skills.

    “The figure of migrants who have been brought back is over than 14, 000. I know that NEMA brought back 2, 100; IOM  has brought back over 16, 000 migrants. Those who are deported because of immigration problems are being brought back on a regular basis.”

    He further pointed out that “some of the migrants don’t understand that this intervention is in their interest. Some of them disappear immediately they arrive.  Even when we have given them SIM cards so that we can keep in touch,  they don’t  come back.  It is not the fault of the intervening authorities.  It is the fault of the beneficiaries.  Some of them want to be given physical cash.  The programme is tailored in such a way that the cash doesn’t get to their hands.  If it is a store he wants, we would do that and get the equipment.

    “Some of these people coming from Mali, Europe and so on have criminal history.  Most of them are returning for immigration related offences.  Those ones fizzle away immediately they arrive.  Some of them because of circumstances key into this programme.  The ones that came back from Cameroon because they are refugees are fully part of the process.  Most of them have been returned to their villages and empowered.”

    Stakeholder decry returnees’ plight

    Some stakeholders on migration issues in the country, who spoke with our correspondent, flayed the plight of the returnees.

    The Director  of the Centre for Youth Integrated  Development (CYID), Victor Aihawu, said: “When we met in Morocco, the international reintegration officer of IOM said if reintegration does not lead to financial independence, that it is not sustainable. IOM does not work with forced deportation. They deal with voluntary returns. But the truth is that there are so many people that came under that voluntary return that they have not implemented their programmes.  Because I don’t work with IOM, I wouldn’t know what the problem is.

    “The NCRI is supposed to be the agency  supervising the work that IOM is doing in Nigeria. IOM is not the owner of the funds. They are only working with the money given to them by EU. The NCRI is in the best position to answer why this and this have not been done.  If the NCRI asks IOM that they are aware that after one and a half years, so many returnees have not gone through their reintegration programme, what is the problem?  IOM will immediately respond to them because if they fail to do that, the NCRI can write to the EU and terminate their contract.

    Unfortunately, the NCRI is not supervising anything.  When you have a country where their migration management is 100 per cent in the hands of foreign donors, he who pays the piper will dictate the tune.  The standard operating procedures in Nigeria, which we are reviewing now, only covers voluntary return because  it was IOM  that sponsored the draft.  Nigerians are Nigerians irrespective of how they came back. tion, expulsion, they all should be entitled to reintegration because you don’t even know the danger of receiving people you  don’t even  have their background information.  Most of these returnees didn’t leave this country as criminals, drug addicts or rapists.  They developed those characters over there and Nigeria is just receiving them without proper monitoring.  Nobody monitors them, when they enter the country they disappear and that is all.”

    Also expressing concern about the plight of the returnees, the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on IDPs, Refugees and North East Initiatives, Hon. Muhammed Umar Jega, said  it is a serious matter. “In the first place, they are leaving their country for another in search of greener pasture.  When they get there, they are declared persona non grata  because they don’t have valid documents. This comprises educated and non-educated.  We need to make our system better and make our economy work so that people don’t leave the country.

    “It has serious security implications. When people are idle, their minds would become the devil’s workshop, as the saying goes.  Some people cannot even provide some basic needs. You know it is a serious matter.  The way forward is to make our system work.”

    He added: “This is the work of the executive. Ours is to enact the law and also ensure there is supervision and implementation of this law, that is an oversight on the part of the executive to ensure they are doing the right thing.

    “This question is better answered by  the minister of humanitarian affairs because they are supposed to provide a policy direction and where  they think they need some legal framework from us, they should let us know. The minister of humanitarian affairs should make adequate provisions for the rehabilitation of those returning so that they will be reintegrated back to their families.”