By Jubril Bada
|
The desperation of many Nigerian youths to travel  abroad in search of greener pastures  through illegal way  is becoming a suicide mission.

They attempt to migrate to other parts of the world, especially Europe for better life.  The females are promised jobs abroad but they ended  up as sex workers in foreign countries.

Many of them risk their lives  by travelling through the Sahara desert and Mediterranean sea and evenually  die along the way . Some experience dehumanising conditions in the hands of the security agencies of the foreign countries.

It would be recalled that some trapped Nigerians in Libya made pleas for rescue through a video which went viral recently. The Federal Government  with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) located the detention camps and offered to bring all the willing Nigerians back home.

According to the Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, 9,438 Nigerians have been so far repatriated to Nigeria from Libya in collaboration and support with the lOM.

They pleaded in the video, “We are dying here come and rescue us. Europe is our final destination but we are trapped in Libya and they are subjecting us to inhuman treatments.”

Dabiri-Erewa said  information from Nigeria Mission in Tripoli confirmed that the Nigerian migrants have been traced to Osama detention Centre Zawiya ,Libya where 116 of them have been processed online by the Nigeria Mission in Tripoli and IOM for repatriation back to Nigeria.

Regrettably, she said, 24 of them have refused to come back insisting they must get to Europe.

Though she noted that most videos being spread through social media cannot be verified, those with concrete information are sent to relevant agencies to look into, reiterating President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to ensure that all stranded migrants willing to return are brought back.

Speaking with The Hope on the issue, the State Organising Secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Ondo State, Mr. Jeffrey Abidoye, said that it is a pity that Nigerians found themselves in the situation of searching for greener pastures abroad.

He noted that Nigerians don’t believe in the dignity of labour anymore, stressing that a lot of youths attended universities with a focus to obtain certificates not education.

This, he said, has led to our youths roaming about with certificates which are not useful to them.

Abidoye, who noted that the average person travelling abroad spends minimum of N2.5 million, saying that with the bad economy in Nigeria, a youth with such an amount of money can become a billionaire within ten years if the money is invest wisely in business

He condemned travelling abroad without appropriate means, noting that many of such desperate youths ended up engaging   doing menial  jobs  like washing of dead bodies, plates and other  dirty jobs which they cannot do white at home

While noting that the Nigeria government might not make the environment conducive for business to thrive, he said there is ample opportunity  for youths  to succeed here.

The Organising Secretary, who said that every economy has its own turbulent period, noted that the economy of Japan was down after the second  world war but as a result of the determination of the country’s leaders then, the economy was developed and it is now among  the best in the world.

According to him, “the younger generation in Nigeria is not ready to pay the prize but prefer to be a slave abroad.”

Also, an employment agent,Mr. Tope Awoso, condemned the moves by Nigerian travelling abroad through illegal routes.

He said Nigerians travelling to foreign countries due to the economic situation here without adequate document and accommodation will face situations more terrible than the one in Nigeria.

He explained that youths travelling abroad without considering all these factors encounter a lot of difficulties and become nuisance in the foreign nations.

Awoso urged government at all levels to introduce policies on how to reduce poverty across the country, adding that infrastructural development in the country should be enhanced towards creating a conducive environment to draw investors to the country.