From Okey Sampson, Aba
She was among a group of five young girls who were convinced to take a journey abroad for greener pastures. But she was not given the details of the journey or what she will do when she gets to Europe.
Like the other girls, she accepted the offer line, hook and sinker and set out for the journey. Alas, she did not get to Europe and did not come back to Nigeria alive; she was drowned in the Mediterranean Sea while trying to cross to Europe illegally.
The case of this lady whose name is withheld by us was not the first; many who tried to get to Europe unplanned have either ended up dying in the Sahara Desert or the Mediterranean Sea while many more got stuck in Libya where they over-night became modern day slaves. Worst still, the very few that got to Europe alive still face enormous problems.
It was to discourage this mad rush to Europe at all costs and through whatever means that the German government in conjunction with the Re-educating Africans on the Risks and Dangers of Unplanned Journey Abroad (RARDUJA) and TANG, a coalition of African Non-Governmental Organizations in Germany organised what was termed a re-education programme for secondary school students in Owerri, the Imo State capital recently.
The programme anchored by RARDUJA has become an annual ritual, but this year’s event was different in the sense that apart from its unique theme: “Lost dream goes Nigeria” expositing in graphic expression the deaths associated with unplanned journey abroa, it was also the first time the German government through her Ministry of Foreign Affairs and TANG, a coalition of African Non-Governmental Organizations in Germany were partnering RARDUJA to bring down the message of the dangers of illegal journey abroad.
President and founder of RARDUJA International, Eddy Duru, said: “We are here to continue the mission of re-educating Africans on the risks and dangers of unplanned journey abroad. But this time, I did not come alone, I came in company with TANG, African Network of Germany, supported by Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Germany as well; they’ve all backed me up and we are carrying out this campaign this time in Imo State, Nigeria.
“People who embark on illegal journey abroad will keep dying because the information is not really there fully. It is a very difficult job trying to reach out to the people. We have thousands of schools in Nigeria, we’ve been able to visit only a very few because it is very expensive to anchor this programme. All these years, we have been doing it and it has not been very easy. But the good thing is that those who have received the information are very happy and they will not go abroad through the journey of land.”
Describing the Mediterranean Sea as the biggest African cemetery in Europe that has remained uncovered, Duru said this year’s theme; “Lost Dream Goes Nigeria” was apt because of the recent deaths recorded on that sea and modern day slavery of Nigerians recently discovered in Libya.
He said paucity of funds will not deter his group from mounting campaigns against illegal journeys abroad which has proved to be detrimental to the indulgers.
“We’ll continue to say no more deaths in the desert and no more deaths at the sea, that is our mission; we will continue to do our best to mount this campaign so that the young Nigerians will consider this country as their home. For many years it has been considered as a transit and as long as anybody considers his country as a transit, there is no way you can salvage or heal such area. So, we want to make it our home and begin to salvage it,” he said.
Duru opined it was heart-rending to get information that Nigerians who otherwise should be in their fatherland doing one reasonable thing or the other were being sold into slavery in Libya and some die in the sea continuously.
“Even those who felt they’ve crossed already still faced some serious problems,” he lamented.
The RARDUJA boss enthused that it becomes more worrisome to note that these are happening to Nigerians when in actual fact the country is not at physical war.
“It is very painful we are facing this kind of challenges when the country is not at physical war and I call on the appropriate authorities to do all they can to get our people back home. I am of the opinion actually also that it has come to a time when Nigeria should declare a state of emergency in the area of illegal migration because we don’t have physical war right now,” he suggested.
Duru said it was true that the federal government through some of her agencies such as NAPTIP, National Orientation Agency have joined RARDUJA in creating the platform through which they re-education the youths, but was of the view that the federal government should be more interested and involved in the campaign because it is capital intensive.
“We are ready to carry this re-education programme from school to school, but the funds are not there, the security is not there. You can’t imagine my coming over here, the cost of coming over, the cost of security, that of my stay, the logistics, all of them were borne by me alone, it is enormous. If not that the government of Germany assisted me in this year’s programme, it could have also been a very big trouble for me to carry it all alone. I also must have to applaud the Imo State government through the Ministry of Education, they did so much to see that approval was given at once for the programme even though the logistics still came down to us to take care of and I wish they will do more and partner with us because there is a lot to do in this direction. So, I am calling on the federal and Imo State governments to assist us financially,” he appealed.
Mrs Blessing Nwosu, deputy superintendent of Immigration, Owerri, expressed joy over the seminar which she said would ensure there would not be any lost dreams on the part of the youths and no dying in the desert or Mediterranean Sea.
She said nobody was discouraging the youths not to travel, but they should do it in the right way; saying “let them be financially okay before embarking on any journey so that they will not be stranded on the way and, of course, they should not embark on any illegal journey.”
Executive Secretary, SEMB, Imo State, Sir C.D.E Chukwu, in his closing remarks, announced the readiness of the Imo government through the Ministry of Education to partner with RARDUJA International more in carrying out the campaign which he said would help in dissuading the youths from making illegal journeys abroad.
Some of the students who participated in the seminar expressed delight.
Oghara Augustine, an SS3 student of Government Secondary School, Owerri, told Oriental News that he had heard about people trying to travel abroad illegally and at the end, they died in the process, but have not actually pictured it a reality until he came to the seminar organised by RARDUJA where they were shown video clips of how some people who wanted to travel abroad illegally either died in the desert or were drowned in the Mediterranean Sea.
He vowed that he would never travel outside the country through the back door. Also Paul Precious Chiemela, senior prefect, Girls Secondary School, Ikenegbu, Owerri, said with the seminar she has gained more knowledge about making illegal journeys abroad, saying that not only was she not going to embark on such a journey, she would also reach out to people in the villages who are ignorant of what is going on with regard to illegal journey abroad.
She commended RARDUJA for what they are doing in educating Nigerians on the dangers of travelling abroad illegally.