The increasing wave of illegal emigration of youths, particularly young Nigerian men and women seeking better opportunities outside Nigeria, has resulted in the wayfarers taking all manner of risks, to get to Europe. Most of them haplessly opt for the perilous journey of crossing the Sahara desert into Libya, the North African country that is now somewhat disunited, following the ousting and killing of its sit-tight ruler, Muammar Gaddafi, way back in 2011. From Libya, they take the most dangerous trip in rickety, inflatable boats across the Mediterranean Sea, to Europe.
While in transit, many of such young men and women are captured in Libya and sold into slavery. In fact, thousands of Nigerians are among those who are known to have been sold as slaves to Libyans. Those who are lucky to escape from Libya are packed like sardines in dilapidated boats for the most risky journey on the Mediterranean Sea to Italy, in Europe. During the crossing of the Mediterranean Sea, thousands of such illegal migrants die and are thrown into the sea. Indeed, it is pathetic, strange, and shocking that in this day and age, Africans are still captured by fellow Africans and auctioned as slaves within Africa.
The twin issue of illegal emigration to Europe and the sale of Africans, particularly Nigerians, as slaves in Libya, was the subject of a recent conference in Cote d’Ivoire by African and European leaders, as well as the United Nations representatives.
Videos of illegal migrants from West Africa, most of them Nigerians, who were being auctioned as slaves at a slave market in Libya, were shown to the Heads of State who attended the meeting. Already, the videos are drawing condemnation from around the world. A shocked and perplexed President Muhammadu Buhari, who was at the conference, said, “It was deplorable that some Nigerians (shown in the footage) were being sold like goats for a few dollars in Libya.”
The way to stop illegal emigration from Nigeria overseas is simple but hard to take. First, the three tiers of government must provide jobs, jobs and jobs at home. Two, the private sector must be sufficiently stimulated to expand their businesses, establish new ones and create more jobs
He said the government would reduce the number of Nigerians illegally migrating to Europe through the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea by expanding domestic education, food safety and health care programmes.
Figures from the Italian interior ministry indicated that an estimated record high of 36,000 illegal migrants from Nigeria arrived in Italy in 2016, most of them claiming they were running away from Boko Haram insurgency or the Niger Delta crisis. The Federal Government also said that some 242 Nigerian migrants returned home from Libya recently and that more than 4,000 Nigerians, who were stranded in Libya, had “safely returned home’’ this year.
Shocked and outraged, the Burkina Faso foreign affairs minister recalled his country’s ambassador from Libya, saying, “It is unacceptable to have slaves in this 21st century.”
German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, said at the beginning of the two-day summit that “Europe must support Africans to put a stop to illegal migration; so people don’t have to either suffer in horrible camps in Libya or are even being traded as slaves.”
But the issue is far more than this. Why are Africans, particularly Nigerians, emigrating illegally overseas? They are looking for better standards of living with less hassle in other lands. Some have argued that if there were better job opportunities in Nigeria, those involved might probably not have taken such risks through the dangerous Mediterranean Sea, to Europe.
There may be no amount of public enlightenment that will stop Nigerians from taking the risk of crossing the Sahara desert with a view to illegally migrating to greener pastures in Europe.
The way to stop illegal emigration from Nigeria overseas is simple but hard to take. First, the three tiers of government must provide jobs, jobs and jobs at home. Two, the private sector must be sufficiently stimulated to expand their businesses, establish new ones and create more jobs.
Small and Medium Scale Enterprises have the power to create more job opportunities than the first logic companies. So, government must encourage Nigerians to create new jobs in the agro-allied sector and in the mining sector; diversify the economy, and employ more youths.
Three, the country needs a new Economic Reconstruction Fund for such small-scale enterprises that are ready to go into full, large and medium scale mechanised agriculture and agribusiness, either in the production, processing or marketing of agro-allied products. Already, the Central Bank of Nigeria has announced the establishment of something similar to this option. If it is well handled by the banks, the better for the country; as it will reinvigorate the economy. If jobs are available and there is more electrical power for industries, young Nigerians will no longer be interested in risking their lives by illegally migrating through the Sahara desert and the deadly Mediterranean
Sea to Europe.
Also, a quick solution must be found to the rapidly increasing population of African countries, which is projected to reach about 2.5 billion by 2050. With rising population, increasing food insecurity and less access to jobs, more and more African countries will face religious and political radicalisation by radical Islamic zealots such as the Boko Haram group and those wishing to set up Islamic states, especially in such unstable regions as the Sahel.
If that happens, there will be no way to stop widespread migration of Nigerians and other Africans to other safer regions of
the world.
