No Easy Passage to Europe through Irregular Migration, Group Warns

Nigerians considering irregular migration to Europe have been advised to quash such ideas because of the dangers involved.

A group, Nigerian Diaspora in Europe said in a statement that “Many of the migrants left Nigeria lured by the false promise of people-smugglers who deceive their victims into paying, sometimes, thousands of dollars for a passage to Europe. The fact is there is no easy passage to Europe through irregular migration. The illegal route to Europe is littered with hardship and death.

“In Libya, for example, there are up to 1 million migrants trapped in transit where they are exposed to hash living conditions and widespread human rights abuses. Some are traded as slaves for ransom, labour or sex by gangs of people-smugglers and many die in the appalling conditions of detention facilities run by both the Libyan authorities and militia forces.

“A substantial number of these irregular migrants are Nigerians. In fact, Nigerians constitute the single largest group of sub-Saharans in Libya.

“The Nigerian Diaspora in Europe is deeply disturbed by this situation hence its decision to do something about it. This is why The AfricanGerman Information Center (AGIC), and The African Courier Verlag – both owned by Nigerians living in Germany – in collaboration with Germany’s Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is launching the information campaign ‘Migration Enlightenment Project in Nigeria’, supported by Migration Enlightenment Project Nigeria MEPN ‘Look before you leave.”