The Senate thinks with deft negotiations, 12,000 Nigerians in Germany can be spared the ordeal of deportation. They could even benefit from a skills acquisition programme bank-rolled by the Europeans. But the presidency appears not to think so. In fact, the presidency thinks their desire for asylum “will not be granted.”
Lamenting the ordeal of fleeing Nigerians who died in the Mediterranean Sea, Presidential Senior Special Assistant, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa said in a statement she issued Tuesday, “It is tragic and lamentable. It is just not worth it ultimately. There has to be sustained awareness campaigns on the dangers inherent in such journeys Migration policies are getting tougher all over. In Germany alone, there are about 12000 Nigerians seeking Asylum and they will not be granted. They are likely to be deported”.
Recall that a worried Senate, which delegation visited Germany in March initiated investigations to find a way out to get the stranded Nigerians to benefit from European funds for skill and capacity building.
In a report read on the floor of the Senate last week, the delegation to Germany, led by Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, said, “The President of the Senate’s intervention on the removal of irregular migrants of Nigerian nationality was timely, and would help in strengthening the cooperation on migration between Nigeria and Germany.”
The Senate called on the Executive to join it in getting the German government to assist the stranded Nigerians and the Army to get more equipment to decimate the insurgent Boko Haram in the North East.
Saraki was invited to Berlin, Germany by President of the Bundesrat (Federal Council of Germany), Ms. Malu Dreyer.
Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, in her Tuesday statement commiserated with the parents and families of victims of the latest Mediterranean boat mishap and prayed unto God to give them the fortitude to bear the loss.
She described the deaths of these young Nigerians in the latest boat mishap on the Mediterranean sea as” unfortunate, tragic and preventable.”
Her Special Assistant on Media, Abdurrahman Balogun, noted that she lamented that promising young Nigerians embarking on such dangerous journeys, in search of greener pastures, end up faced rather with hopelessness, torture, despair and sometimes death, as in this case.
The International Organization of Migration (IOM), said 128 migrants, comprising Nigerians and other West Africans, died while crossing Mediterranean Sea to Europe between March 6 and 26, 2017.