The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Mediterranean sea

  • Wave of illegal migration across the Mediterranean Sea

    Spain’s two enclaves in Morocco–Ceuta and Melilla have been favoured entry points into Europe for African migrants who either clamber over their border wire perimeter fences or swim across their coastline.  After thousands crossed in 2014 and 2015, Spain stepped up security by raising the security fences and since then, Libya has become a common departure point cum staging post for African migrants who attempt the perilous crossing to Italy in rickety and dilapidated boats and rubber dinghies that are most times not sea-worthy and often break down at sea.  Many African migrants have died in their attempts to cross the gargantuan Mediterranean Sea.  The deaths and the attempted crossings are a part of a sustained bid by thousands of Sub-Saharan Africans in Libya and other North African countries including Morocco to reach Spain and Italy.  Some have made it to their dream land while the unfortunate ones have met their untimely death.

    The fishing port of Lampedusa in Italy has been a major migration corridor for African migrants as it is only 128 nautical miles from Libya as the crow flies.  The EU countries of Spain, Italy and France all have maritime frontiers temptingly nearer poorer countries on the African continent.  The EU has discovered that all the measures put in place to stem the tide of illegal migration across the Mediterranean Sea have not deterred the would-be migrants from embarking on the tortuous and hazardous trip to Europe.  Just like a balloon that is tied in one place only to expand in another, they can’t cope with the ever increasing influx of illegal immigrants from Sub-Sahara Africa.  They have reasoned that no number of Spanish, Italian and French warships on patrol and surveillance in the Mediterranean sea is likely to reverse this natural law of migration – human beings have always wanted to escape poverty and misery and today many Africans see Europe as their Eldorado.

    In 2015, Europe was under siege as it could not contain the surge of migration from Syria as a result of the Syrian crisis.  Turkey was used as a launching pad for the migration that made world headlines. The receiving countries of Europe such as Greece, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria, Germany and Austria had to cry out as their facilities were overstretched beyond their elastic limits.  There were television footages of bodies of immigrants being washed ashore on most of Turkey’s coasts and beaches.  Most of these migrants viewed Europe as a peaceful, tolerant place where the state has many generous social welfare programmes.  Europe has become a strong social welfare outfit that receives millions of refugees while it is finding it extremely difficult to take care of refugees due to dwindling funding sources.

    At the peak of the mass influx of refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Turkey to Europe in 2015, the brass-hats at the EU headquarters in Brussels entered into a deal with Turkey whereby Ankara agreed to accept the return of migrants living in Greece in exchange for economic benefits including aid and visa free travel for Turkish citizens.  The flow of migrants later slowed to a trickle since the deal was struck and consummated in March 2016.  It has been alleged that negligence on the part of EU member states was to blame for the repeated drowning of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea with the Italian Coast guard left alone to handle this arduous and daunting task.  The EU at their emergency meeting in April, 2016 agreed to tackle the human traffickers/smugglers pernicious business model at its very roots.  According to them, it will involve the destruction of boats used by the traffickers and smugglers.  This will involve identifying, seizing and destroying boats before they are deployed to the sea by human smugglers.  The EU later sought for UN mandate authorizing the use of military force against illegal migrants seeking to enter Europe through the Mediterranean Sea.  This plan is modeled after the EU’s anti-piracy operation Atlanta off the horn of Africa.  How feasible is this plan?  According to International Law, naval ships are not legally allowed to capture and destroy such boats.  Libya is already a failed state with no central government in power and this is likely to make it impossible for the EU to secure permission for a military intervention.

    In several African countries and in the Middle East, there is a bad combination of poverty, lack of economic opportunities, disease, political chaos and bloody religious and ethnic conflicts. Added to this is the fact that unemployment rate in most Sub-Saharan African countries have risen astronomically. Most young school leavers find it extremely difficult to get paid employment. All these trigger the urge to peregrinate to safer and more prosperous climes to eke out a living.  Europe is usually the destination of choice of most African migrants because of geographic proximity and historic ties. The general belief and perception among would be African migrants is that once you get to Europe, there are cash to be picked on the streets of Europe.  The hard fact is that most of the European nations do not have such money. Invariably most migrants end up living at the margin of society with limited access to education, health care and paid employment.

    According to the UNHCR- the UN Refuge agency, Europe received about 300,000 refugees who arrived after crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa in 2015. In 2014, the number was 219,000. The number keeps increasing on a yearly basis and there seems to be no end in sight. People escape from poverty, war, civil strife, persecution and famine. Unless drastic changes occur in their various countries, they will continue to flee in their droves. A 19 year old Gambian goal keeper of the country’s women’s football team drowned in the Mediterranean Sea in 2017 trying to reach Europe. Fatima Jawara represented her country- the Gambia in the 2012 under 17 world cup in Azerbajan. It is an irony that a footballer that left the shores of her country legally to represent her country in an international football competition will years later drown in the Mediterranean sea while trying to reach Europe this time through the back door.

    Libya has become a hub for illegal migration towards Europe. It lacks proper border controls and has been plunged into chaos following the death of Muammar Ghaddafi. The existence of war lords controlling their spheres of influence in different parts of the country and the lack of a functional central government has fuelled the illegal crossings along the Mediterranean sea. The UN refugee agency reports that on the Libya- Italy route, the main countries of origin of migrants are: Nigeria (15%) Gambia (10%), Somalia (9%) Eritrea and Guniea (8% each) and Senegal (7%). There are presently thousands of African migrants stranded in Libya with their fate hanging in the balance. Most of them have been sold off as slaves and living in bondage. The International Organization for migration (IOM) has come to the aid of some of these unfortunate stranded migrants by profiling and transporting them back to their countries of origin. These stranded migrants on arrival have tales of woes to tell about their ordeal in Libya. Most of them narrated how they were lured to travel with promises of better life in Europe. The Nigerian migrants among the returnees narrated how they were ferried through the vast Sahara desert in overloaded four wheel drives and their harrowing experiences on the trips. There is equally a group of Nigerian migrants stranded in Mali. They got stuck there on their way to North Africa. Most of them are into prostitution and other vices and they have rebuffed efforts by the Government to bring them back home.

    The hard fact is that able bodied men and women in their prime who would have stayed behind to contribute to the political and economic growth of their countries are being temptingly lured to migrate to Europe. The money expended on the ill-fated trips is enough to kick-start a business venture back home. Most of the returnee migrants usually find it difficult to adjust to mainstream life having spent much of their life savings on the botched trips to Europe.

    The youths should be sensitized on the dangers inherent in illegal migration.  They should be informed that only legal and documented migration pays off.  In doing this, these loose cannons on the prowl will be taken off the perilous and hazardous trans-Mediterranean sea journey to Europe and thereby contributing their quota in nation building instead of becoming liabilities and public charges to the receiving countries of Western Europe.  If this trend of able bodied African youths migrating to Europe in large numbers is not checked, Africa will eventually have a large pool of aging population and this is bound to affect the process of nation building in Sub-Sahara Africa.

     

    • Chapp-Jumbo, MFR, fsi,Pcc is Comptroller of Immigration Service (Training Institutions), Abuja.

  • IMMIGRANTS: When the sea becomes a cemetery

    In the last one year not less than 1,000 Nigerian youths perished in the Mediterranean Sea; some were lost in the desert while numerous others were in various refugee camps in Libya in their quest for greener pasture. Sina Fadare, who encountered some of the returnees,’ writes that more is yet to be done to discourage this unprofitable journey

    ROSELINE  Omohodu could be described as a cat with nine lives. She has cheated death many times and was lucky to have, by the stroke of luck, escaped on each occasion the agent of death visited during her voyage on the Mediterranean Sea.

    She was about to get married to her heartthrob who was in the same vocation with her, cloth designing, in which they are cynosure of all eyes in the vicinity they are leaving in Ijaye area of Lagos State.

    After her training by one of the best fashion designers in Opebi area of Lagos State, Roseline teamed up with Kayode, her lover of four years, who actually introduced her to the job she later derived joy and sense of fulfilment.

    However a visit by one of her customers, simply called ‘Aunty Bimbo,’ who brought lucrative jobs for her, changed the course of her life. Bimbo, who claimed to have a boutique in Italy, was a big customer to her anytime she visited and within few months they became glued together.

    It was during one of her usual visits that the idea of going to Italy to become a notable fashion designer was sold to her and by the time she discussed with her would-be husband, who was sharing same shop with her, he was happy that at last opportunity has come their way to make it big outside the country.

    According to Roseline, Kayode did not think twice when he encouraged her that they should mop-up all they had, in terms of cash, to make the journey a successful one. “At the last moment, we were able to raise about N800, 000, which I gave aunty Bimbo to perfect all the travelling documents, excluding another N200, 000 which I changed to dollar on the eve of our departure from Nigeria.”

    It was a smooth journey from Nigeria to Libya where they were expected to cross the Mediterranean Sea through a big boat. This is where the sojourn to the world of unknown started for Roseline.

    After a lot of frustration and narrow escape from security officers, Bimbo eventually led her to the expected boat that would take her to the shore of Italy.  That was the last she saw her.

    “When I entered the boat, we were so plenty that l wondered if l had not willingly signed my death warrant. It was all a sea of heads because everything was dark and people just find a seat through the help of an agent with a touch light.”

    Roseline joined others and in the wee hour of the day the ship was in the middle of the sea to its destination. Suddenly there was commotion in the boat and heads were been knocked against each other in the full to capacity boat carrying about five hundred passengers. In the confusion that followed, she slipped to the ground.

    Roseline could not believe her imagination when faintly she was hearing a lot of noises and by the time she opened her eye, she was on a small hard bed at a refugee camp where she was carried to after their boat torpedoed on the sea. She was among the 10 survivors; others were drowned and became feast to the fishes on the high sea. Her survival at the sea gave her the second chance to tell her story.

    “For hours l did not know where l was, very weak and confused. I thought l was dreaming until a doctor came to give me an injection. That was when l realised l was not in a trance.”

    After three weeks at the refugee camp, Roseline and few others were sold by the Army officers who have captured a lot of immigrants on the sea to a woman who came to the camp often to buy people and resell them to farmers in the hinterland of Libya. There and then, Roseline’s second missionary journey into the unknown world commenced.

    “The experience l had on the cotton farm that l was sold to was better imagined than told.  I could not speak their language and none can speak English either; this compounded my problem. There was no dull moment. l could not bear the agony on the farm as a woman working for twelve hours a day with only little time to eat.

    “Suddenly my body could no longer cope and l fainted. That led me to another journey into what l will call the wilderness, which eventually paved way for my final exit from the trouble l put myself.”

    If Roseline was lucky, Hellen Efosa was not. She was lured to Libya with a promise of a better future where she was expected to work for a business woman who owned a big boutique, which later became a farce. She was lured to prostitution as she later knew when she got to Libya where she became a sex slave.

    “We are six in number sold from the refugee camp by the army. The woman who bought us also sold us to some guys who are like the yahoo boys in Nigeria. They are always smoking, drinking and had marathon sex with their victims

    “The house was like a big bungalow with a big garden, we were not allowed to come out. We only eat and subjected to marathon sex by any of the five boys in the house. When they are going out, they chained us to a big bed and a security officer was engaged to monitor our movement.

    “More annoying was that if any of us was on her period, her mouth was turned to depot of sperms in a brutal way.”

    Hellen lamented that as soon as any of them gives up due to stress from marathon sex, the body of such girls is dumped at a nearby dumping site at night and another replacement will come the following day through same source.

    “I was dumped like this one evening after l passed out due to marathon sex from five different men. A security officer who took me to the hospital said one of the scavengers on the refuse site reported the case to the police and it was in the hospital that l eventually regained consciousness.” she lamented

    Miss Chisom Johnson, who left Nigeria in 2014, was among the 120 Nigerians stranded in Libya who were brought home last November via Al Buraq air.

    She regretted her action of chasing the shadow outside the shores of the country, recalling that she was deceived that a job as a stylist was waiting for her in Germany

    According to her, “there are 20 of us in the team and we were promised that we would fly to Germany as stylists but after two weeks, we found ourselves in Niger Republic.

    She explained that after three weeks they were in Libya where their Madam told them that they cannot cross over but have to be prostitutes in order to refund her money which was N1.4 million.

    “I resorted to fervent prayers and pleaded with our Madam that it was a taboo in our family to prostitute because the consequence would be dire. She eventually agreed with me to work in a restaurant where l refunded her money

    “Immediately l finished paying her money, l started working on my own to get some money but my madam organised my kidnap and l was bailed by her with about N650, 000 and she doubled the amount and insisted that l must pay her N1.3 million which l did at last by doing all sorts of works.”

    Chisom, who was in tears, noted that his four years in search of greener pasture was a disaster and that she was lucky to have been returned home alive because others did not have the opportunity to tell their stories.

    “I want to beg those people who think that it was rosy over there to think twice; they should resist all temptations because they may not be lucky as we are. There is freedom in Nigeria; if you are hardworking; you can break through. Over there, there was no freedom and we cannot keep our money in the bank. This gave us out as prey to hoodlums who cashed in on our predicament to often rob us of our money with impunity.”

    The above tales of agony, frustration, slavery and death are the experience which Nigerian youths are passing through in their quest to go to Europe through illegal means.

    If the above victims were able to tell their stories, the 26 Nigerian girls that died in the Mediterranean Sea on November 3rd 2017 and thousands of others that were buried in hollow of the sea cannot.

    Speaking at the South City of Salerno, after a funeral was held for the victims, the Director UN Migration Agency IOM for Mediterranean, Federico Soda, pointed out that the 26 bodies were retrieved from the sea on Nov. 3rd by a Spanish rescue ship while 64 people were unaccounted for and feared lost.

    The Nation gathered that the Italian government has worked with the Libya authorities to block migrants from leaving the North Africans states, leading to the situation in which many perished in the sea and many refugees and migrants are trapped in  perilous conditions in Libya.

    According to IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis Centre, at least 2,242 people died trying to cross the Mediterranean sea from Jan 1 to Dec.2018. These immigrants passed through Central, Eastern and Western Mediterranean route. In 2017, 2,853 deaths were recorded.

    In 2016 about 181,436 illegal migrants from 11 countries from Africa with Nigeria accounting for 37,551 stormed European countries. In 2017, with a total of about 11,9369 illegal migrants, 18,158 are Nigerians and in 2018, with about 23,370 illegal migrants, 1,250 are Nigerians.

    Two schools of thought have emerged on the reason behind the alarming rate of Nigerian youths risking their lives by going to Europe in search of greener pasture through the Mediterranean and the desert.  The first school of thoughts heaped the blame on the alarming rate of unemployment among Nigerian youths, particularly university graduates, who are trooping out of the school without any job to fall on as a means of their livelihood.

    The other argued that the porosity of Nigerian borders gives room for all shady deals, which include human trafficking and illegal migration through some of the neigbouring countries like Republic of Benin and Niger.

    Speaking to The Nation, a human right activist, Comrade Mark Adebayo, put the blame squarely at the door step of the federal government that has bluntly refused to put in place a mechanism that will give jobs for teeming Nigerian youths who are frustrated after many years of graduation from the university.

    Adebayo argued that aside this,  all the security agencies that are saddled with the responsibility to monitor the nation’s borders have failed to live up to expectation and this has encouraged all internal saboteurs who are feeding fat on human trafficking to have a free day.

    Adebayo therefore called on the federal government to urgently put in place mechanism that will give employment opportunity to all those that have been airlifted home noting that aggressive enlightenment campaign should be embarked upon to discourage those who are tricked into this illegal journey.

    Perhaps irked by the alarming rate of migration through illegal sea route, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Nigeria, recently raised alarm that something urgent must be done to checkmate this ugly trend.

    Against this backdrop, in December 2018, IOM organised a training for government officials in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour and Employment on the availability of Migrant Resource Centre (MRC) to assist the intending travelers of the needed information

    The training was sponsored by the European Union (EU) within the framework of the “European Union Trust Fund and IOM initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration in Nigeria.”

    Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Frantz Celestin, the IOM chief of Mission in Nigeria noted that it was expedient to organise the training at a time when the numbers of deaths and those suffering exploitation and abuse along the Central Mediterranean migration route are at an alarming rate.

    According to him, “It is worthy to note that thousands of Nigerian migrants are stranded in Libya, living in terrible conditions, with many desirous of the opportunity to return home.

    “From April 2017 to October 2018, over 10,000 Nigerian migrants stranded in Libya and Niger have been assisted by IOM to return to Nigeria.

    Celestin observed with dismay that many migrants have embarked on irregular migration with little or no accurate information about the legal migration process and the risks inherent in the journey.

    “Permit me to say that most of these migrants embarked on this perilous journey because they received little or no information about the legal migration process, the risks inherent in irregular migration, the living and working conditions, and the support and redress services available at destination countries.

    “In the absence of accurate information on legal migration procedures and requirements, risks of irregular migration, job advisories and general information and support on welfare and social protection, potential and returning migrants are bound to fall victim to fraudulent migration brokers/recruitment agencies, who usually capitalise on the vulnerabilities of their victims’ desire or ambition for exploitation.

    Celestin pointed out that the training was designed “To provide services for the empowerment and protection of migrants, staff of MRCs” as well as  build capacity of the participants on a wide range of issues, such as relevant laws and procedures relating to migration and migrants’ rights and responsibilities.” he said.

    However, equally worried, President Muhammadu Buhari explained that the situation on ground has called for concerted efforts from within and outside the country to curb the menace.

    The president, who disclosed this when he hosted Chairman of the African Union Commission, Mr. Moussa Faki Mahamat, at the Presidential Villa, noted that the Lake Chad, which provided a means of livelihood to several millions of people in four countries- Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria- has now been reduced to ten per cent of its original size due to the impact of climate change.

    Buhari explained that “People who depended on the lake for fishing, farming, animal husbandry and many others have been thrown into dire straits. That is one of the reasons youths now dare the Sahara Desert and Mediterranean sea, to seek greener pastures in Europe. But helping to recharge Lake Chad will help a great deal in curbing irregular migration.”

    The President lamented that the size of the country and resources available places a lot of responsibilities on her shoulders, adding that all hands are on deck to curb the menace.

    Speaking recently in Ibadan, the Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has challenged the youths to look inward for their livelihood instead of embarking on a perilous journey on the sea.

    Dabiri-Erewa, who said that the Federal Government has put in place many openings and opportunities for empowerment, said in spite of the hopeless situation being painted of the country, irregular migration damaged the national reputation

    According to her, the dangers and risks involved in illegal migration are more than the problems one can possibly face in Nigeria. “If you go to see them, there is no human being that will not cry; but in spite of the efforts, many Nigerians are still languishing in Libya cells.”

    She lamented that “One girl said she was 14 years old and about 40 people have slept with her; they used men as slaves, they used them on the farms.

    “There are still underground cells we could not reach then; so, up till now, we still have many Nigerians in Libya cells.”

    While the people have the liberty to move from one place to the other, Dabiri-Erewa appealed to Nigerians not to go near those countries like Libya, Oman, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, “but if you want to go, go legally.”

    According to her, illegal migration is not purely a Nigerian problem, but that of the continent, as thousands of Africans stake their lives as they venture on a boat journey in search of what they think will be a better and easier living standard. “Unfortunately, it is a journey that begins with hope but ends with despair.

    “It is painful that Nigeria ranks highest in the statistics of irregular migration; communities have lost able bodied youths, valuable assets and properties to irregular migration,” she said.

  • Dozens of migrants found dead on Mediterranean Sea

    NO fewer than 25 people are believed to have died or are missing, including a pregnant woman, when a group of migrant boats got stranded at sea and was rescued off the Spanish coast on Thursday.

    Briefing reporters in Geneva on Friday, spokesperson for the UN High Commission Refugees (UNHCR), Elizabeth Throssell, said that colleagues in the field had reported that bodies had been found on two of the boats.

    “You can imagine how traumatising that was for the people who were rescued,” Ms Throssell said.

    According to reports, the migrants had sailed from North Africa.

    On one of the six vessels found adrift in the Straits of Gibraltar, in the western Mediterranean Sea, 33 people had been rescued, but 12 had died and a further 12 were missing, UNHCR said.

    On another of the boats, the UN refugee agency said 57 people had been on board, including one that had already died by the time of the rescue.

    “There was a massive sea-swell that threw them into the water,” Ms Throssell said, adding that among the survivors was a mother and her two-year-old child who was evacuated by helicopter, after she was found to be suffering from hypothermia.

    She added that many of the survivors were being held at detention centres at the Port of Almeria in Spain.

    “Our implementing partner is there to provide the people with information and support and to help any potential protection and other needs and of course to promote access to the asylum process for those who may need it,” she said.

    Delivering the latest overall statistics on the deadly Mediterranean migration route, UN migration agency (IOM) spokesperson, Joel Millman, said that as of December 19, 113,000 migrants had entered Europe by sea so far in 2018.

    According to him, the figure is the lowest recorded in five years.

    Recently, however, he said the death rate for migrants attempting to reach Spain, had tragically begun to tick upwards, with 769 fatalities registered on the western Mediterranean migration route.

    “That’s only slightly more than half of all on the Central Mediterranean route from North Africa to Italy, but what’s remarkable is how rapidly that number has increased over the last three months,” he said.

    Mr Millman said it was likely that there would be “more incidents like this” in the next 10 days.

  • Foreign Minister calls for responsibility in migration row

    EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini called on member states to take “more responsibility” for migrants rescued in the Mediterranean Sea, as the issue made its way onto the agenda of an EU defence ministers’ meeting in Vienna.

    Italy’s populist government has taken a hard-line stance on migration, refusing to disembark people rescued at sea unless other EU member states offer to take them in.

    The issue is threatening Operation Sophia, an EU naval operation to fight human trafficking off the coast of Libya, which is set to run until the end of the year.

    When it was established in 2015, member states agreed that any migrants rescued would be taken to Italy.

    Rome is now demanding a change to those rules, threatening to close its ports to Operation Sophia’s vessels otherwise.

    Mogherini, who is Italian, argued that the management of migration flow is a common European issue, not one for a single country.

    Read Also:Security, economy, migration to dominate Merkel’s visit

    “This is why we have a EU operation at sea and that is why I believe that, even if it’s a very difficult discussion, it would be good if member states consider taking more responsibility in this respect,” she said ahead of Thursday’s informal talks in Vienna.

    German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen appealed to Italy not to hijack Operation Sophia.

    “It is also a question of credibility and reliability of the European mission.

    “We brought it into being. It runs until the end of the year. And it must continue until the end of the year,” von der Leyen said.

  • EU registers 10,000 cases of irregular migration in 2 months

    EU registers 10,000 cases of irregular migration in 2 months

    The European Union ( EU ), said it had recorded no fewer than 10, 000 cases of irregular migration within the last two months.

    The EU Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Ketil Karisen, made the disclosure on Monday at the Senate Round-table on Migration and Human Trafficking, holding in Benin, the Edo capital.

    Karisen , who said that EU’s illegal migration registration of the 10,000 took place in 2018, noted that it was recorded between January and February.
    He said that in 2017, EU registered about 187,000 cases, while number of deaths registered so far was 411, as against 116 reordered in 2017.
    He said that of the figure, Nigeria accounts for about 60 per cent, adding that in view of this there was need to correct worrisome error.
    The envoy, who said that the issue of migration and mobility were as old as the existence of man, and should not be an issue for worry.
    He said rather “what should be of worry and concern was the irregular migration and the conditions the victims were being migrated and causes for such migration.

    Karisen said the situation therefore called for urgent, immediate and long term solution to the problems of irregular migration.

    He also said that there was the need for shared responsibilities as well as bringing offenders to justice, adding that there was need to redouble efforts to dialogue on the best possible ways to adressing issue of migration.
    The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, in his opening remarks, said that the issue of irregular migration and human Trafficking had become the bane of the nation’s existence as Nigeria currently ranked 23rd in EU irregular migration index.

    Saraki said the issue had become a Nigerian disaster reference point as a country, ranked fifth among countries crossing the Mediterranean sea, with an estimated 10, 000 reported to have lost their lives in the process.

    He said the roundtable was to serve as spring board to stem the tide, saying the summit would help identify reasons for irregular migration and human trafficking and profer solution on the way forward.

    The senate president said the government was doing its best to liberate Nigerians from the slave trade going on in Libya as many lives had been lost in the cause of irregular migration, noting that the time was apt to end it.

    He said that there was the need to urgently begin to address the issue as well as work and collaborate with the EU to stem the tide.

    He said that the effort by Edo government was the beginning of many steps that would be taking in bringing the issue and inherent problems to the fore.

    READ ALSO: Human trafficking: Edo plans permanent shelters for returnees

    Saraki expressed confidence that at the end of the summit, decisions such as improved collaborations, and how human trafficking would be stopped, would have been reached.

    He said that the summit would also address issues of how to improve policy legislation, funding to Agency like NAPTIP and how to fast track pending treaties.

    Earlier, Gov Godwin Obaseki of Edo, said that the issue of irregular migration and human trafficking in the country had become critical, noting that its magnitude had never been fully grasped.

    He said the Edo government considered it a variance to the culture and value of the people hence, a taskforce was set up in the state to handle the issue.

    He said the task-force had been working assiduously to achieve its objectives, as it had been receiving returnees, while offenders were being prosecuted with issue of stigmatization taking seriously.

    The two-day summit which was attended by various stakeholders, was organised by the Office of the Senate President.
    Newsmen also reports that dignitaries at the summit include, fellow senators, ministers, security chiefs, representatives from National Human Rights Commission, National Oriented Agency, and the Delta Government.

    NAN

  • 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

     

  • 3,000 migrants rescued on Mediterranean Sea – IOM

    At least 3,000 migrants were rescued trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea on Thursday, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), has said.

    The United Nations migration agency added that more than a dozen rescue operations were underway in the area.

    IOM spokesperson Joel Millman said on Friday that 2,139 migrants were rescued on May 18 alone through more than a dozen different operations in Mediterranean international waters.

    “Additionally, IOM learned of about 500 people rescued in Libyan waters that day,” Millman said.

    He said while the exact numbers of casualty was not known, IOM’s Libya office had reported the remains of six migrants that were found over the past four days in various spots and communities on the Libyan coast.

    Milkman also gave information on the numbers of migrants who crossed from Greece in the first four months of 2017.

    “Almost 6,000 people came from Greece in 2017, 5,200 at the end of April, which was a low number compared to the numbers in 2016 and 2015.

    “Of those 6,000, half came from Syria and Iraq.

    “Following those two countries are Congo, Algeria, Kuwait and Cameroon, ahead of countries like Afghanistan and Iran, that were countries of origin of many migrants in the past,” he added.

    NAN

  • Unaccompanied child migrants in Mediterranean doubles

    Unaccompanied child migrants in Mediterranean doubles

    The number of child migrants who crossed the Mediterranean Sea to Italy without family more than doubled to 25,800 in 2016, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said in Geneva on Friday.

    More than 90 per cent of all underage arrivals in Italy were children who traveled alone or who had become separated from their parents during the journey.

    “These figures indicate an alarming trend of an increasing number of highly vulnerable children risking their lives to get to Europe,” said UNICEF emergency coordinator Lucio Melandri.

    It said that most of these unaccompanied children come from Eritrea, Egypt, Gambia and Nigeria, and most of them are boys between the ages of 15 and 17.

    The girls that make the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean are at risk being forced into prostitution in Libya to pay off their travel costs to people smugglers.

    Governments should address the causes of child migration and should do a better job of protecting them, UNICEF said.

    In particular, irregular underage migrants should not be detained, the UN agency said.

  • Thousands die in the Mediterranean

    A Catholic Priest, Rev. Fr. Carlo Perego, Director General of Migrantes Foundation, said no fewer than 3,200 migrants died in the Mediterranean between 2014 and 2015.

    He said that the number of the migrants’ casualties in the sea had risen from 1,600 in 2014 to 3, 200, adding that children accounted for 700 of the deaths so far in 2015.

    He said that Europe always found resources to drop bombs, but not to save innocent victims.

    Perego said that the European Triton operation had not been able to rescue more human lives at sea than the Italian operation, Mare Nostrum.

    “This is a real shame that weighs on Europe’s conscience.

    “Faced with a terrorist threat, Europe seems now to justify building walls and closing of borders,’’ he said.

    The director general also accused Europe of failing to create humanitarian channels that could save lives and combat human trafficking, one of the resources of terrorism.

    “We keep receiving people in closed centres, the so-called ‘hotspots’, instead of in open reception centres.

    “Take Lampedusa, for example, more than 20,000 people have been taken to the centre, which is closed at every entrance and exit.

    “Fear, along with convenience, seems to have set Europe’s contribution to international protection years back,’’ he said.

    He insisted that migrants seeking asylum and international protection should continue to be welcomed.
    Perego said that after the appeal by Pope Francis on Sept. 6, the widespread and united commitment of churches, parishes and families, had grown.

    “This intelligent way of receiving also helps to get to know the people and their stories.

    “Once again, the Church is making a concrete gesture, which exceeds prejudices and ideological conflicts, and accompanies people in the prospect of a ‘culture of encounter’ that regenerates our cities,’’ he said.

  • 2,000 migrants rescued from Mediterranean Sea

    Italy coat guards said on Friday that rescuers pulled almost 2,000 migrants from 11 boats that were attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea and enter Italy.

    Italian, British and Spanish navies took part in the 11 separate rescue operations on Thursday, as well as a ship operated by a non-governmental organisation, Doctors Without Borders, the coast guards said.

    The figure was said to be the largest number of migrants saved en route to Italy since November.

    The flow of migrants heading to Italy has slowed sharply in recent weeks, partly because of poor weather.

    Many of the migrants come from sub-Saharan Africa and sail from Libya in boats provided by smugglers.

    More than 140,000 migrants have reached Italy this year out of a total of almost 900,000 who have arrived in Europe, most of them entering via Greece.