Of Nigerians in foreign lands

I feel frustrated whenever Nigerians abroad are facing long terms in jail for one offence or the other in the hands of employers, estranged benefactors who facilitated their travel and authorities of foreign countries for criminal and non-criminal offences.

These unpleasant situations underline the failures of ambassadorial representatives to meet the primary objective, which is to foster human relationship and peaceful co-existence. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should prioritise the safety of Nigerians living abroad for education, business and job purposes and look for ways to ensure that travel agencies submit their clients’ statistics on a regular basis, having initially validated their business ingenuity, foreign affiliates and certifications.

This will also help to identify those who sneak in through forests, seas and illicit ways into foreign lands that the culprits and those who paint the nation in black before the international communities.

Statistics of Nigerians living abroad should be the government business and should be taken very seriously.

Not all Nigerians in prisons across the world are truly offenders and Nigerians are not doing as bad as the foreign journals reports which buttress the reason why the Nigerian government should take up the challenge and protect Nigerians against oppressions and indiscriminate killings. The Nigerian government should not wait for problems to befall Nigerians before acting.

Hence, the National Assembly should continue in their enviable acts of resourceful interrogations by inviting ambassadorial representatives with cases of Nigerians facing executions and detentions in prisons for explanations and the way forward.

The Nigerian government and people are the most generous and accommodating group in the world.

We care for foreigners, which foreign nations fail to reciprocate. That left Nigerians exposed to untimely death, injustice and all forms of discrimination. I stand to be corrected that no foreigner has been executed by any Nigeria government till date.

The highest punishment is a jail term, which epitomizes the failure of Nigeria’s foreign policy and calls for more unity among African nations and leaders.

Nigerians ladies are suffering in Oman, Nigerians are facing execution in Indonesia .

The people of Nigeria are exposed to all forms of life -threatening sicknesses due to substandard drugs and food items smuggled in by selfish Nigerians, yet none of these people have been executed or imprisoned.

Nigeria is not the worst country in the world. Nigerians should not see traveling out as the only option for survival. Hence, we shouldn’t portray ourselves as ‘extra tyres’ and weaklings before foreigners.

The recent advertisements on radio by a travel agency seeking opportunities for young ladies to work in Saudi Arabia with all expenses paid by the sponsors should be a worry for any concerned government.

Government should be stricter in issuing visas, granting them only on health grounds, scholarships, verifiable invitations and tours and employment and job interviews.

It is the business of government to know why its citizens are traveling. This will no doubt help the government to check the activities of illegal travellers and sponsors of human trafficking

• Adebusoye Francis

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