President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio has expressed concern over move by Germany to deport illegal migrants in Germany into Nigeria.
Speaking when he led some of his colleagues to receive in courtesy, the German Ambassador to Nigeria, Annette Gunther, in his office, the President of the Senate noted that dumping over twelve thousands illegal immigrants into Nigeria some of whom lied about their nationalities would worsen the already scary security situation in the country.
He said:”The recent decision of Germany to deport illegal Nigerians back to the country numbering 12 thousands is something you have to look into for us, because of its security implication. As a result of the current political situation in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, almost every black person in Germany, would claim to be a Nigerian because they don’t want to return to crises prone countries.”
“Dumping 12 thousand illegal immigrants in Nigeria, would lead to the escalation of insecurity in the country. There is, therefore, the need for your country to allow our immigration officers to assess, who exactly is a Nigerian amongst them. If they allow them in here, without any kith and kin and they have to survive, the result would be nothing but militancy or insecurity.”
Akpabio however assured Ambassador Gunther that Nigeria would be willing to leverage on its cordial relationship with Germany for robust economic growth.
“We are looking for partnership and guidance from Germany in the area of security and power generation. There is no doubt that we enjoy a very robust relationship with Germany and I see a much better relationship between Nigeria and Germany under your tenure as the Ambassador.”
“We are taking the security in Nigeria very seriously and we believe that with more companies coming in to establish here, and creating more employment opportunities, a lot of our youths would be gainfully employed. We also want to implore Germany to take more active part in resolving most of the war in the crises prone areas, such as the Ukraine and Russia imbroglio and the current very bad situation in the Gaza.”
In his remarks, the German Envoy said she was honoured to be received by the Senate President and his colleagues, assuring his hosts, of the commitment of Germany to assisting Nigeria to over come its security and power challenges.
According to her,” we are honoured to be here today. Nigeria and Germany being the largest economies and population in their respective continents, needs to come together in their peoples’ interest. Nigeria is Germany’s second largest trading partner in sub-Sahara Africa.
” The Siemens’ energy project is often mentioned by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and I hope this may be our small contribution to improving electricity in the country. Germany is very active in so many areas like climate change and energy, she stressed.
The security situation in Nigeria, she noted, ” is worrisome to Germany as well as Nigeria. We have taken that up already because it is the most important prerequisite for socio- economic development, peace and human development. The security sector support reform is also where Germany is deeply involved. Over the years, we have spent quite a lot of money and we are very happy to see that going well under the leadership of the National Security Adviser.”
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