The Nation Newspaper

Tag: IOM

113 migrants die in shipwrecks

At least 113 people died in four shipwrecks between Libya and Italy at the weekend as the crossing becomes the preferred sea route for migrants to Europe, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday.

With the closing of land routes in the Balkans and a recent deal under which Greece sends migrants back to Turkey, Italian officials have said they expect more people to try to make this longer and much more dangerous crossing from Libya, Reuters reported.

In one of four incidents, an Italian merchant ship rescued 26 people off the coast of Libya in rough seas and others were feared missing, Italy’s Coast Guard said on Saturday.

IOM, citing survivor testimony, said 84 people appeared to be missing from that wreck, while at least 29 drowned in two other attempted crossings in rubber dinghies of the Channel of Sicily. It was still investigating a fourth incident.

“Just since Friday we know of four shipwrecks and 113 people killed, just off Libya,” IOM spokesman Joel Millman said.

“It is becoming the preferred route. So therefore we are very mindful of what could be coming in the next few months,” Reuters quoted Millman as saying at a news briefing.

Migrants from West Africa, especially Nigerians, and the Horn of Africa dominate the Libya-Italy route, which Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis are not taking for now, Millman added.

May 3, 2016
Boko Hazards: Education Must Continue

Besides striving to propagate Islam in a questionable bloody manner, another thrust of the philosophy of Boko Haram is condemnation of Western education. However, in a bid to revive western education among people displaced by activities of Boko Haram, some NGOs introduced psycho-social activities to help heal, psychologically, displaced children, most of whom were witnesses to havocs of Boko Haram. Some local communities without access to government camps for displaced persons, locally organize schools, though sub-standard, for the continuation of the truncated education of their children.

Some displaced children engage in a local game organized by IOM, an NGO, at the Deeper Life Camp Ground, a non-governmental camp for displaced persons at Kwana Waya, Yola South, Adamawa State.

A few, out of the many displaced children who hardly attend school, usually run away from school to participate in the local games because IOM usually distributes biscuits to children after the games.

Some displaced children, at Sangere, Girei, Adamawa State, play at the Nursery school section of Education Must Continue, an NGO formed by members of affected communities. by insurgency. The school is run by volunteers who are also displaced, and attended by displaced persons living among host communities.

Fatimoh Muhammed, 12 years old, uses one of the psycho-social facilities available for displaced children at Sangere, Girei, Adamawa State. After her father rescued her family from members of Boko Haram at Gwoza in Borno State, he went back home to take some of his valuable properties but was caught and slaughtered by members of Boko Haram.

Some displaced children, at Sangere, Girei, Adamawa State, play at the Nursery school section of Education Must Continue, an NGO formed by members of affected communities. by insurgency. The school is run by volunteers who are also displaced, and attended by displaced persons living among host communities.

February 15, 2016
‘Boko Haram displaced 2.1m in Nigeria’

Mounting attacks by Boko Haram sect have sent more than 2.1 million people fleeing their homes in northeast Nigeria, the International Organization for Migration said Friday.

Revising sharply upwards its previous estimate of 1.5 million, the Geneva-based agency attributed the increase to a very recent spike in Boko Haram’s six-year insurgency.

But the state-run National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said other factors were at play, such as unrelenting communal strife and the return of Nigerians who had previously fled the country.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who completes his first 100 days in office this weekend, has promised to do far better than the previous administration in wiping out the insurgents.

But more than 1,000 people have died in Boko Haram attacks since May 29 when Buhari came to power, AFP reported

“The recent spike in attacks by insurgents triggered the increase,” the IOM said, referring to the stepped up attacks. But the hike was also due “to improved access to previously inaccessible areas of Borno State, where the IDP population is now well over 1.6 million.”

The IOM said the new figure covered internally displaced people (IDPs) in the northeastern states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe as well as the central state of Nassarawa and Abuja.

It urged the government as well as the international community to step in quickly as many were in dire need of food and shelter.

September 4, 2015
9,000 migrants seek employment yearly in Italy , says IOM

Apparently in search of greener pastures, no fewer than 9,000 migrants from Nigeria arrived Italy through the Mediterranean Sea last year, an official of the United Nations International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has said.

A research officer with the organisation, Tara Brian said at a conference on National Migration Policy Thematic Areas, organised by IOM that Nigeria was the fourth top country of origin for people arriving in Italy in last year.

She said, already, between January and April this year, no fewer than 3,000 Nigerians arrived Italy for jobs.

In his presentation, a migration expert, Prof Adepoju Aderanti, said Nigerians abroad constitute the population of about seven African countries, adding that it is not surprising considering the country’s population.

Aderanti however said Nigerians in Diaspora could be potential development tools for the country. He said the remittances of Nigerians abroad is about $25 billion yearly, adding that it overtook direct foreign investment and was second to oil revenue.

“An average African who migrates ultimately wishes to return home but returning home depends on the situation at home. Some Africans in Diaspora want to come back home but the circumstances at home in many countries are not encouraging,” he said.

Aderanti called on the Federal Government to make migration a win-win-win situation for the migrants, the origin and destination countries through policies to attract remittance flows such as tax holidays.

He also called for policies to woo Diaspora engagements like establishing a Diaspora Commission and reviewing bilateral migration agreements with destination countries in favour of Nigeria.

Aderanti commended Nigeria for being the first country in Africa to adopt a National Policy on Migration.

A representative of the UN Resident Coordinator, Jean Gough, commended the Federal Government for adopting the National Policy on Migration.

Gough said Nigeria was a major country of origin, transit and destination within West African sub-region and globally.

She said having a legal framework for the governance of migration was an important step and a major achievement in managing the multi-faceted challenges of migration and taking hold of the opportunities.

June 18, 2015