The Ukraine volunteers

In response to the recent call for foreign volunteers by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to help defend his country against Russian invasion, some 115 Nigerian youths reportedly besieged the Ukrainian embassy to be recruited. These young Nigerians wanted to join thousands of other foreigners from diverse countries to help shore up the efforts by Ukrainians to resist Russia. Ukraine had passed regulations a few years ago that allowed foreign fighters to become citizens within a few months of applying and thus officially join the Ukrainian side as Ukrainian citizens.

As the number of Nigerian youths volunteering to go to Ukraine swelled, there were rumours that the Embassy of Ukraine had given out conditions for recruitment, including the payment of US$1000 for tickets and visa. However, the Ukrainian Embassy denied that it gave those conditions. In addition, the Federal Government warned that it would not allow Nigerians to travel to Ukraine to fight.  According to the government’s spokesperson, “as a responsible member of the international community and consistent with our obligations under international law, Nigeria discourages the use of mercenaries anywhere in the world and will not tolerate the recruitment, in Nigeria, of Nigerians as mercenaries to fight in Ukraine or anywhere else in the world.”

Globally, there has been controversy over the legality of foreign volunteers joining the war in Ukraine.  While some countries in Europe and the Balkans, such as Lithuania and Latvia, have passed emergency legal measures allowing individuals to join the war, others have cautioned their citizens on the implications of going to Ukraine to fight. For instance, the United States warned its citizens who travel to Ukraine with the purpose of participating and fighting there that they face significant risks, including great risk of criminal persecution, capture or death. It warned that they would be treated by Russians as “mercenaries”. Thus, it is proper for the Federal Government to caution Nigerians against going to Ukraine to fight.

Furthermore, the Nigerian youths who are ready to sign up for Ukraine should know that going to Ukraine is not a tea party.  Given the news about discrimination against African refugees fleeing from the war zone, it is questionable whether these Nigerians are volunteering to go to Ukraine because of empathy for Ukraine’s plight.  Not a few think that these youths see President Zelenskyy’s call as an opportunity to jet out of the country. The intention of the young Nigerians volunteering to go to Ukraine is questionable. Why have these youths not volunteered to help the Nigerian security forces in addressing the security challenges in the country, including the challenges posed by Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West Africa Provinces (ISWAP) and the growing cases of banditry and kidnapping?

We believe that such Nigerians have come to believe that any place but Nigeria is okay for them to live. If some Nigerian youths are willing to risk almost certain death to jet out of the country, then there is a problem that the government must address.  We have been witnesses to the reports about the suffering that many Nigerian youths went through in their bid to go to Europe in search of greener pastures.  Many had perished in the Sahara Desert as they journeyed at high risk through Libya as economic refugees. We call on the government to address the country’s economic challenges, especially the high rate of unemployment among the youths.