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Tuesday 12 March 2013

Tales Of Woe As The Number Of Nigerian Deportees Keeps Rising


Foluke Oloruntoba prods the conscience of the nation and consciousness of Nigerians to the persistent ugliness in illegal migration of Nigerians abroad and the debasement of their humanity by the host countries.

Mayowa's (not real name) euphoria was about to be cut short by the suspicious look on the faces of the Scottish immigration officers who could not but expertly identify a first timer who had come to add to the amount of destitutes on their streets. Mayowa was held back at the airport. Still unaware of his offence, he was taken back and questioned. He only had the opportunity of seeing "Welcome to Scotland" before he was sent back to his motherland. His dreams had seemed so near, yet so far.


Seeing many strange faces, voices he could barely understand, stares penetrating deep into his being, accusing fingers pointing at him and his heart beating so hard, he was sweating profusely and feeling giddy for fear of being detained. The Scots checked his travel documents, including the much sought-after visa and realizing that they were not genuine, he was placed on the next available flight, joining the multitude of the deportees.

Getting home, all he could do was thank his stars for not being arrested in his country. Being a youth, he exuded agility to go find greener pastures and a rosier lifestyle.

This is the story of one of the many youths who believe that the only way of escape from their problems is to leave the country for greener pastures in another man's land.

But countries do not just deport people. Deportation is the enforced or enforceable departure of a non-citizen from a country, the expulsion of an undesirable alien from a country. Before a person can be sent back home from a foreign land, he or she must have breached some rules made by the country.

According to statistics, America has Nigeria listed as one of its 14 "countries of interest" and it was shown that, as at 2012, Nigeria recorded thousands of deportees.

Particularly of note was a case last year, when 33 Nigerians, made up of 29 males and 4 females, were deported from the United States of America. The deportees arrived at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, aboard a chartered flight at about 1 p.m.

The special flight, with aircraft registration number N738MA, had on board, 13 crew members and 22 American security agents. According to security officials at the Lagos airport, five returned to the country for committing passport related offences; 28 for tax clearance offences and five for drug offences. Also, 22 of the deportees were held for police related offences and six for immigration offences."

Another case of dashed 'hopes' for desperate Nigerians was the report that said, "68 Nigerians were deported from Europe sometime in September 2012 while over 1,000 were sent home from various countries last year."

According to an online journal, Nigeria appears to have recorded more cases of deportation of its citizens recently than it did in many years.

According to investigations, total sum of 969 Nigerians repatriated from different parts of the world within the space of one week just last year.

Another source said the Saudi Arabia authorities had,deported 159 Nigerians, who had embarked on the 2012 hajj exercise to Mecca for irregular papers. Those deported by the authorities were females whose travel documents were arranged by 'travel agents'. Just after first deportation, the government of Saudi Arabia returned another batch of 512 pilgrims to Nigeria. The Saudi authorities denied them entry because they were not accompanied by their husbands as demanded by the rules of pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

This continuous deportation of Nigerians, is said by immigration officials, to be a source of worry to the Federal Government, as plans are underway to stem the tide, which is now a source of embarrassment to the country.

One major issue to tackle when dealing with deportation is the existence of people who claim to be giving out lottery tickets to people. Aside from using the medium to extort money from innocent Nigerians, the supposed winners are left to their fate after their win. Claiming they can only issue out Visa and not places to stay when they eventually leave the shores of Nigeria. You see them at strategic places beckoning on people to come over pay a token and be on their way to America. Therefore, you find lucky Nigerians who have houses in Nigeria wandering on the streets abroad.

Adeolu Taiwo, an undergraduate said, " It is funny how people think, when you begin to wonder if N500 is enough to cover the expenses of a trip to Europe. What are they still doing in the country? The Yorubas will say, "if you will give out clothes, one will have to dress well too". Visiting one of the 'lucky spots', you see eager idle youths who seem to want fast success impatiently taking turns in filling forms to 'promise land' not knowing what awaits them".

People who have tried to travel have narrated experiences that there was always a waiting period for detained illegal immigrants when they experience excruciating hardship. They are starved and dehydrated. Some of the women who were deported narrated their ordeals, saying they spent three to four days at the airport, sleeping on bare floors and without food.

With tears, Hajia Medinatu Jalingo, expressed disgust at the shabby treatment meted to them by Saudi officials, adding that at some point, "we were shouting and we were about to protest, but they sent their officers after us."

Some time last year, the country quietly took delivery of 62 deportees from Rome, the Italian capital, over allegations of immigration default, drug trafficking and related issues. They were immediately taken in a bus to the Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Alagbon, Lagos, for questioning.

Sources said, "Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) said the country receives substantial number of Nigerians on repatriation from several countries across the world, including the United States, Canada, Greece, Italy, South Africa, and Angola, among others. Specifically, over a thousand Nigerians had been returned to the country from South Africa, Italy and Saudi Arabia for offences hinged on forged Immigration documents, prostitution, drugs, rape, stealing, smoking and selling of hard drugs. Some were also deported because they used fake visa or engaged in fake marriages."

In August 2012, reports stated that taxpayers in the United Kingdom were to foot the bill to revamp jails in Nigeria and Jamaica so that the convicts in British prisons can be deported without breaching their human rights.

But that is not all. Accounts have it that, most times, when deportees are going back home, they only leave with the clothes, shoes and maybe the little cash they have on them at the moment of arrest.

Bartholomew Sunday, an indigene of Anambra State, southeast Nigeria, said that he lived in the United Kingdom (UK) for nine years but could not get residence permit. Sunday said he had to engage in a contract marriage to get the permit but was later caught by the British immigration, which deported him to Nigeria. He said he was not allowed to take any of his possessions before he was deported, adding that it was at the airport that he discovered other Nigerians were also deported. Sunday explained that the British government made it difficult for immigrants, especially Nigerians, to get residence permit, saying that they did not plan to stay there illegally.

Another deportee, Daniel Uche, who hails from Enugu State, said that the global economic meltdown has made it difficult to get jobs in the UK, thus many Nigerians are struggling to survive. Uche said there are no jobs for foreigners in UK, and to survive, many engage in shady businesses.

In addition, Peter Nkwocha from Delta State said he travelled to UK about seven years ago, but he was arrested and later deported because "I was wrongly accused of rape. Though I denied the allegation, I was arrested and later deported when the British authorities discovered I had a 'contract' marriage during investigation."

It is rather saddening that Nigerians have to resort to committing these crimes just because they want to live in foreign countries such as the UK, humiliating themselves and embarrassing family members.

The Federal Government through various agencies and media organisations, had at different times, spoken out against the dangers of procuring illegal documents, advocating that Nigerians travelling abroad be patient and go through the right channels. But as many Nigerians continue to seek greener pastures owing to the alarming prevalence of poverty in the nation, the problems of deportation may still be one monster yet to be tackled by the Nigerian government.


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