STILL ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
This article of mine was written 5 years ago, a time when the world was abuzz over the rising scourge of illegal immigrants taking life-threatening risk to reach Europe in pursuit of better life. The slave trade report in Libya, the inhuman experience in border nations and the massive deportation of migrants to their home countries by various African governments were believed to be the anti-climax of the ugly trend. It is however, disturbing that over 50 Nigerians were among about 110 migrants rescued en route Italy. It is against this backdrop that I visited the archive and dug out this article. The remains the same.
"We have become used to the suffering of others. Has any one of us wept for these persons who were on the boat? For the young mothers carrying their babies? For these men who were looking for a means of supporting their families? We are a society which has forgotten how to weep, how to experience compassion."
The above words were the heartrending words of the Pope of the Catholic faith, Pope Francis, when he visited the small Italian island of Lampedusa, - one closer to North Africa than Italy - to drop a wreath of flowers into the Mediterranean in mourning of the thousands of migrants and asylum seekers who have so far drowned while sailing from Africa to Europe in search of a better life. To underscore the importance of the voyage, that was to be the pontiff’s first papal trip outside the Vatican. The pope was said to have “celebrated Mass on a sports field near where the wrecks of migrants' vessels have been piled up. He used an altar fashioned from a small boat and a lectern made from the helm of one of the vessels. His staff and chalice were also made from piece of wood taken from the wrecks.” All these in a bid to identify and empathize with the hundreds of thousand Africans who apparently have sworn to find their way into Europe in search of a greener pasture come hell or high waters. Perhaps, still bothered about the reckless loss of lives, hunger, and other inhuman experience of those embarking on this illegal journey, the Pope tweeted: "God will judge us on the basis of how we have treated the most needy."
Of course, Pope Francis concern may be borne out of his proximal experience with the ugly trend - as his grandparents once migrated from Italy to Argentina - the issue of illegal migration which became rife in years past still remains a migraine today for many. Last month, the Italian media reported that 31 migrants, including nine women, drowned off the coast of Libya while attempting to cross to Italy. The 22 survivors of the 53 migrants - most of Nigeria, Gambia, Benin and Senegal descents - said the dinghy conveying them had capsized after three days at sea. The survivors were blessed to have a merchant ship sail by at the moment when their lives hung in the balance. They were rescued and thereafter conveyed to Lampedusa Island.
During the same weekend and notwithstanding that mishap, border crossing soared as reports said rescuers saved another 450 people trying to reach Italy same Friday and Saturday, increasing tensions at the already crowded refugee settlement on the island. On Sunday, another 92 migrants, including 16 women were rescued in the Strait of Sicily after their boat was reported to have ran into difficulty. At the moment, there’s a strong sixth sense that most of the survivors would have again attempted the perilous journey despite the near-death experience.
Since 1999, more than 200,000 people have arrived on Lampedusa. It rivals the Greece-Turkey border, as one of the biggest gateways for undocumented migrants and refugees into the European zone. Report has it that more than 6,000 people have drowned in the waters around Lampedusa between 1994 and 2012. The United Nations also documented 500 deaths of migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean during 2012.
The issue is back as very disturbing due to the growing figure of Africans who continue to put their lives at risk in a bid to cross over to a continent tackling financial recess itself at the moment; Crossing the West African coast to the Canary Island; taking the Moroccan backyard to Spain and lurking in the creeks of Libya and Tunisia with an opportunity to slip into Italy. In mid-July, coupled with the high accidental report, was the all-time record of 880 migrants who arrived Malta highland, a sharp rise from the total 1200 since the year commenced. In other words, the number of Africans attempting to kiss the African soil goodbye continues to soar by the day, regardless of the obvious perils and measures put in place by national authorities to debar them.
Not even the inclement weather, exhaustion, dehydration and sun stroke that are features of the deserts are enough to stand in the migrants’ way. For most who embark on this journey, the night is when they attempt mostly to cross the sea borders. They ignore all odds to embark on such voyage; the unpredictable tides, the overloaded dinghies that had itself seen better days and even the gun barrel of marine guards who patrol the sea to wade off crashers.
On several occasions, there had been distressing tales of capsized boats, wrecks, security shootings and even electrocution on barbed fences. Cases of apprehended crashers, their suffering in detention camps and subsequent deportations are no good news to the ears. Frontex Risk Assessment Network, (FRAN) Quarterly Report has always remained the same; “the 70 page report contains a significant amount of information, graphs, and statistical tables regarding detections of illegal border crossings (land, air, and sea), irregular migration routes, detections of facilitators, detections of illegal stays, refusals of entry, asylum claims, returns, information regarding other illegal border activities, and more.”
With no attempt to dampen the spirit of migrants - who even succeed in crossing the borders - but state the obvious, crossing over does not necessarily guarantee the ticket to the perceived greener pasture. Rather, it represents another phase of a bumpy trip to imperialistic success. In fact, with the rising figures of visitors, tensions now brew more between the migrants and residents, while their status is processed. Many of these people, while waiting for the opportunity to break into the Euro zone spend a great lot of time and resources preparing necessary papers through the backdoor. It is so ironic that in pursuit of a better life, a migrant will endure a hard time spanning years in a ghetto of sort, working as a giant, feeding like a mice, sleeping in a paper pack, under inclement weather condition in an overcrowded camp, but worst of all, with no hope of what tomorrow holds.
A considerable number of these migrants either from Nigeria or any other African country belong to the working class grade. They are graduates, specialized in various fields, who ought to contribute to the development of their country and the continent at large, but alas! what we have is brain drain. Many go through this accumulation of hardship only to end up as a sex worker in Italy, a cleaner at McDonalds or a server in a Paris restaurant. For them to submit themselves to such self-demoting work is to impress upon Nigeria and her African brothers that the filth over there is preferable to the plum over here. It is illogical to think masses will still love to march out of the continent in droves, and stoop so low in search of a means of livelihood should job opportunities be made available back home. For many who truly know their onions, even the opportunity to be under-employed is nowhere to be found. For those who endeavour to try their hands on entrepreneurial ventures, necessary financial or material assistance from government is not forthcoming and for those who are able to float a business, the environment is so disenabling that it stifles life out of medium scale businesses, leaving no room for Small scale ones to thrive.
Seriously, the proposed £3000 bond slammed on Nigeria and some other nations deemed to pose the most significant risk of immigration abuse by Britain should not have caused any hullabaloo had the nation got it working for her. Nigeria is only gripped by her own failure. The apprehension follows an envisaged impact of the measure. UK’s bid to trim down immigrants and address abuses of their immigration system need not be adjudged unfair. We cannot continue to be parasitically dependent on another nation which has her own issues to trash out.
Will it also not be good for us as a nation to accept the reality and stop being illusory over taking back our pound of flesh should the UK make good its threat? No nation can truly survive in isolation, but the scale of UK’s dependence on Nigeria is minute compared to that of Nigeria. Annually, record shows about 180,000 Nigerians stand under the scorching sun or heavy rain at the British embassy struggling for VISA. Britons who come to Nigeria represent a unit per cent in comparison. In the last seven years, the UK has supported education in 10 of Nigeria’s 36 states with a £102m aid, while still projecting to spend a mammoth £126m by 2019. As one of the beneficiaries of a scheme to fight malaria in Africa, Nigeria in the last phase of the initiative, got her share of the estimated £252m while we also wait to benefit out of the projected £494m in the 2014-2015 phase. Although, last year, only the trio of China, Russia, and the Middle East edged Nigeria as the fourth-biggest contributor to overseas tax-free shopping in the U.K. What in actual fact is the significance of our contribution to a bilateral relationship that can be easily earned from some other countries except burdens?
To even think Nigerians will dissuade from besieging the British embassy as this development unfolds and with the nation’s status quo remaining the same will translate to a national fallacy. With Prime Minister David Cameron hoping to reduce annual net migration to below 100,000 by 2015, an estimation 1000 less than the population of Nigerians granted six-month visas in 2012 alone, foreign land seekers will be willing to give it all it takes to get the slot. It won’t even be out of the way to surmise that UK’s action will ginger desperadoes to meet the criteria, which presumably will be viewed as all it takes.
Nations affected by this influx of migrants are deeply concerned, and thus hell bent on devising ways to curb the trend. Following the recent mishap, the Italian Interior Minister Angelo Alfano called for an end to the traffic of human beings. According to him, “We need to stop the merchants of death. The deaths off the Libyan coast and the terrible stories told by the survivors show the need for a real collaboration between countries to stop this string of tragic events.” To this end, he called for “the network of collaboration to be strengthened with the countries where the migratory flows begin.” But the words changed nothing as it has been in time past. Until the foundation issues are resolved and the environment made at least conducive enough to wade off frustration, people will continue to sacrifice their all to pursue a better life elsewhere.
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