As reps move against human trafficking

NIGERIA is a country flowing with milk and honey, but the economic situation in the country has proved against this axiom. Currently, economic indices are nothing to write home about as most of the populace can barely afford three square meal a day.

The country is currently facing its worst economic crisis in more than 20 years as the economic contraction worsened by more than expected as a result of contraction in the oil sector. But government has continued to preach economic diversification as a way of the economic blues.

The teeming populace of youths in the country are jobless or better still under employed, a situation that has forced a lot of them and even adult to look for the proverbial greener pasture. And in doing that most of them are met with harsh experience staring at them, some died in the process.

Miffed by the trend, a member of the House of Representatives, Honourable Patrick Asadu moved a motion on the need to curb the rising crises of illegal immigrants and human trafficking from Nigeria And other sub-Saharan African countries to Italy and other countries of the European Union.

The motion led to a resolution of the House which categorically urged the youths to be wary of sugar-coated speeches of unscrupulous human traffickers promising them non-existent jobs outside the country and also urge parents, community and church leaders to champion massive enlightenment campaigns against the development which he called modern slavery.

A clarion call was then made to the Federal Government to develop a plan to mobilise both the citizenry and indeed African and other leaders in both the transit and receiving countries in the fight against this malaise while rehabilitating and resettling victims at all stages.

The eighth Assembly equally submitted to champion a new parliamentary initiative to abolish this modern slavery by mobilising resources within Nigeria and beyond against this at the levels of the sending, transit and receiving countries as well as co-ordinate the enactment of relevant legislations at the national and supra national levels.

While a mandate was given to the Committee on Human Rights to conduct an oversight of the action plan of the Federal Government to curtail the incidents of illegal migration to Europe and report back to the House within twelve (12) weeks for further legislative action.

The mover of the motion had raised concern about the United Nations report which had it that migration across the Mediterranean Sea has reached epic proportions, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) observed that about 170,100 migrants arrived Italy by sea in 2014. He also cited the report of the United Nations Commission for Human Rights (UNCHR) which says that illegal crossings from Libya to Italy increased by 38 per cent in 2015 and further 43 per cent in 2016;

According to him,  these migrants, even when they manage to arrive Europe alive, are not automatically eligible for protection and are not qualified for EU’s relocation and redistribution program, unlike Syrians, Somalians, Afghans and Eritreans fleeing wars and persecution, thus making their initial applications for asylum very unlikely to succeed and thereby condemning most of them to legal limbo without any money, documents and having poor communication skills or understanding of the local language.

To this end, he expressed dismay that the Ministry of Interior has little or no effective border surveillance and patrol policy to restrain those misguided and misdirected Nigerians from embarking on such illegal, dehumanising and risky misadventures.

In addition, he said that Nigeria, from where most of the migrants emanate, has not only failed to provide for the security and welfare of its young citizens who form a critical productive resource for the country but has also failed to educate them on the vagaries and risks of embarking on such hazardous and illegal trips or diplomatically engaging the transit countries on how to restrain or protect the migrants from passing through these ‘corridors to hell’ or with the receiving countries on the security and welfare of the migrants when they get lured into this stateless status.

This avoidable humanitarian crisis, it is believed, if unchecked will not only diminish the respect of Nigeria and Nigerians as a nation and a people but will also condemn those unfortunate and misguided Nigerians to a life of indignity and modern slavery.