NaijaWire

Foreign Minister warns Nigerians to stop illegal immigration

Abuja - Nigerians have been issued a warning to desist from traveling to any foreign country without the requisite papers.

Making the disclosure at an evening briefing in Abuja, Foreign Affairs Minister, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, also said efforts to make convicted Nigerians serve their jail terms in Nigeria had so far proved abortive.

The warning came against the backdrop of a revelation that about 20,000 Nigerians are languishing in foreign jails worldwide. Worse still, over 60 of these are on the death roll in countries like Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.

When will those on the death roll go to the gallows? This question was not answered yesterday as it largely depends on the procedure of execution, which differs from country to country. But the minister said the Federal Government would continue to explore diplomatic channels at the highest level to rescue the much it can without diminishing Nigeria’s sovereignty through refusals of requests from authorities in the countries concerned.

A breakdown of the figures of those currently languishing in prison reformatory centres in other lands shows that Libya has the highest number with 1,500 followed by the United Kingdom which has 1,491. Others are India (391), Nepal (15), Japan (14) Canada (13), Togo (150) and neighbouring Niger (40).

The situation has become so deplorable that the Federal Government yesterday warned citizens who often travel abroad without requisite papers to desist from the practice no matter how bad the economic situation is back home.

The minister warned: “When our citizens travel without requisite papers, they are putting themselves at great risk. There is a proper ratio between rights and responsibilities. Yes, there is now citizens diplomacy, but you cannot go to Saudi Arabia or Indonesia and get involved in drugs or some other vice and then when they are about to cut off your hands or the noose is around your neck, you start to scream citizens diplomacy.”

Speaking further on the issue, the minister maintained that this was the major reason why the summit on irregular migration was being convened. “We hope we shall tell ourselves some home truths then. Nigerians must be alerted to the dangers of irregular migration. It has reached a point where it is now a local issue that challenges local leadership. That’s why we will involve even the traditional rulers in those areas. If names of culprits in drug pushing or prostitution have a particular vernacular ring, then it is beyond a national problem. We are evolving a naming and shaming mechanism. We are concerned about the number of Nigerians who die in the hands of foreign security agents. Unemployment at home is not an excuse for such blind movement. While we have not provided any Eldorado, we all owe it a duty to make Nigeria work; denigrating your country, pulling down every government and attempting to find respite in a foreign land will never be the answer to our national problems.”

Source: The Guardian