The House of Representatives on Monday tackled the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyema over the maltreatment, torture and dehumanisation of Nigerians in Lebanon.
Speaking at the inter-Agency meeting organized by the House Committee on Diaspora with Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) on the inhuman treatment of Nigerians, Chairman, House Committee on Diaspora Affairs, Hon. Tolulope Akande-Sadipe also requested for the explanation on the suspension of airlifting of Nigerians who were stranded in different countries across the globe due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hon. Akande-Sadipe, who frowned at Federal Government’s inordinate attitude in handling of reported cases of inhuman treatment of her citizens, observed that other foreign nationals living in Nigeria enjoy their stay without any form of intimidation.
According to her, Nigerian citizens are faced with and subjected to the worst forms of abuses, inhuman treatments and in many cases undeserved death, adding that “this treatment must be brought to an end by our collective resolve and response”.
In her opening remarks, she said, “Many nations of Africa, Middle East, Europe, North and South America, Nigerian immigrants (legal or illegal) have been subjected to untold slavery, prostitution, organ harvesting, jail, death sentences and even when a microscopic few are able to establish contacts with any institution or representative of the Nigeria Government, little or no relief get to them.
“It is noteworthy, to reaffirm that no nation can thrive in isolation hence the different International Conventions, Protocols, Treaties and Agreements among nations, one of which is International Convention on Human Rights,” she noted.
Meanwhile, some members of the Committee tackled the Minister of Foreign Affairs for handling such issues and maltreatment of Nigerian citizens with kid gloves as they urged the Minister to come up with retaliatory policies that would send signals to host countries guilty of such inhuman treatment against Nigerian nationals.
Speaking, former Chairman, House Committee on Capital Markets and Institutions, Hon. Yusuf Tajudeen
“For how long are we going to fold our arms and watch our brothers and sisters been manhandled and subjected to all manner of torture and slavery before we react.
“Can’t the Executive put in place some retaliatory measures like refusal to issue visa to them and of course, some other stringent measures that would let them know we are not happy with their actions against our people,” he urged.
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On his part, Hon. Inobek-Abiante Awaji said, “We have many Lebanese who own businesses in Nigeria here yet no one disturbs them, we also have a lot of Lebanese walking our streets freely without harassment.
“So if these people are treating our people badly over there, we can’t sit down and do nothing about it. It is high time we come up with stringent policies that would send signal to all these countries.”
Speaking earlier, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyema told the Committee that a lot of efforts have been put in place to salvage the situation, adding that the maltreatment of Nigerian citizens was not limited to Lebanon alone, as many other countries were guilty of similar offence.
“I like to say that, we have been doing our best to tackle the situation and we have rescued a lot of Nigerians in different parts of the world subjected to such inhuman treatment especially the ones we are aware or either reported to us.
“But I must say our people are not helping matters either. I have a video of a Nigerian Lady who refused to come back to Nigeria who was supposed to be amongst those that were airlifted from Lebanon recently.
“She said she prefers to stay back and suffer than come back to Nigeria; that she does not have anything to fall back on when she returns home.
“On the issue of retaliation, we have Nigerians who do businesses in Lebanon freely so we cannot because of incidences such as these, then come up with such policies that would end up affecting the bilateral relationship between Nigeria and Lebanon.
“But we have been engaging the Lebanese authorities and of course governments of other countries as well,” he noted.
While giving details on the suspension of airlifting of Nigerians stranded in foreign countries, Mr Onyema observed that the “Ministry had to suspend the airlifting of Nigerian citizens due to certain factors such as funds etc.
“Formerly, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC) withdrew their support that they could not continue.
“However, we are commencing operations soon because even today we are having a meeting in that regard,” the Minister explained.
On his part, the Comptroller General of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Mr Mohammed Babadede urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to come up with a policy document such as working conditions for exportation of labour.
He said Nigerians who want to go outside the country and work would be protected by such laws irrespective of the nature of the jobs they want to go and do.
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