Going to Libya through the desert and returning alive is a miracle. Nigerians who are now being repatriated must be grateful for living to tell the story of surviving the journey to hell. More than 7,000 have been moved back home and thousands more are in detention camps awaiting repatriation. Many who made the perilous journey across the desert where not so lucky. There were stories abou those who made the attempt, but ended up dead in the desert. Many were killed in Libya. We have also learnt about others who made it to Libya, but perished in the Mediterranean Sea, while attempting to cross in dinghies to Europe.
But will the horrifying stories being told by the survivors dissuade others from trying their luck? It’s doubtful. As government is repatriating the economic emigrants, isn’t it ridiculous that many of them, in spite of the dangerous conditions they have been subjected to in the foreign land are insisting on staying back in Libya? How sad, that Nigerian youths have lost hope in their country! Many young desperate youths are still secretly nursing the hope of escaping from hardship at home. There are many still longing to sneak into Europe in search of greener pasture. They hardly care about unfortunate outcome for many who perished on the way.
They believe that the situation is worse enough and the only option out of their predicament is success or death. It just appears that Nigerian government officials don’t appreciate the desperation. Otherwise, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foeign Affairs and Diaspora, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa would not simply say that the Nigerian youths whose lives are hanging in the balance in Libya were warned not to make the journey.
We must first acknowledge that it is innate for human beings to migrate when challenged with poor conditions and limited potential for improvement in their present abode. Is it not in search of better life that human beings found ourselves in different parts the world, even the remotest, far flung lands that you can’t but wonder how the original settlers found their way there? Europe, which Nigerian youths are risking their lives to migrate to today had not always been a choice place of abode for the natives. The Europeans, particularly, Irish, Italians and Swedes have at some time in history also had cause to migrate from their homelands in search of better life in America, Canada, Brazil and other lands they considered more habitable and prosperous than theirs.
For instance, it was reported that more than one million Irish sailed across the Atlantic to North America between 1815 and 1852. They comprised people in search of work in rural Ireland who had to emigrate to find employment. Famine in that country between 1846 and 1852 also provided the motivation for many to leave.
From the last quarter of 19th century and beyond over five million Italians also reportedly left their homeland for the Americas to escape poverty and limited opportunities. The Swedes were not left out in the greener pasture chase. Studies also revealed that Indians and Chinese migrated all over the world in the quest for better living conditions.
The Europeans have, however, stopped the exodus. They have turned around their countries’ economies positively and do not have any need to migrate to other parts of the world in search of economic prosperity. For instance, Ireland, which used to be a leading sender of migrants to other countries ranks as one of the 10 richest in the world in 2017. Therefore, an advice or warning as to whether to emigrate or not would only make sense to an Irish now, not so much to a Nigerian youth whose hope for better future is a mirage.
Young Nigerians risk their lives for the journey across the desert to Libya because they have lost hope in the leadership and government of the country.
It is the visionless leadership that has failed over the years to harness the great human resource potential of Nigeria that is fuelling the citizens’ desire to travel abroad illegally in the quest for better life.
What should be expected in a country where youths struggle through the tertiary institutions but remain unemployed many years after graduation?
How do you convince a youth who has tried unsuccessfully to secure admission into a higher institution against risking the journey to Europe, even if he may lose his life in the process?
What about couples and even entire families who believe their hope for prosperity lies in journeying through the desert to Europe?
To dissuade these and other categories of economic migrants, you need to provide alternatives that will give them hope. As long as there is no hope for a better future, no hope for opportunities and there is no provision for social welfare, it may be difficult to expect the youths to stay at home. The question to ask is what is the Muhammadu Buhari administration doing to give that hope? The government claims to be creating jobs and providing succour to the most vulnerable citizens.
What impact have these efforts made? Have Nigerians not become worse off than they were before the ascension of the current government?
What happened to the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) and other entrepreneurial training and finance as well as employment agencies that previous administrations created to help provide the youths the opportunity of earning income and living a decent life? What has become of the YouWin programme, through which the last administration was empowering youths with great business ideas to create jobs?
Has this government not also caught the bug of introducing schemes and programmes, which look great and promising on paper, but only provide succour to only a tiny fraction of the citizens and end up making little or no impact? How do you effectively stop Nigerian youths from searching for a better land in foreign land when the government and the politicians are perceived as not capable of solving their problem?
Greed is another reason behind the illegal migration to Libya. Greedy Nigerians are cashing in on the desperation of the migrants to make money off them. There are reported cases of professional human traffickers who lure unsuspecting citizens into embarking on the journey. They trick fellow citizens into parting with princely sums of money to travel to Libya. The victims end up being sold into slavery in Libya. The Nigerian human trafficking syndicates with Libyan collaborators would not stop their filthy trade as long as their activities go unchecked.
It will take more than the effort of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) to bust the human trafficking syndicates and bring perpetrators to justice.
The Department of State Security (DSS) and other security agencies must be involved to smash the syndicates and put the heartless traffickers out of business.
The migrants pay as much as N200,000 for the trip to Libya and much more for the perilous journey across the sea to Europe. To discourage economic migration relevant government agencies must work harder to re-orientate the citizens to believe in Nigeria. The youths must be given the knowledge and information on how to utilize his N200,000 in the country and grow big instead of migrating to a foreign country and ending up dying or being sold into slavery.