Leadership (Abuja)
30 December 2008
Human trafficking by Nigerians is posing a major challenge to the country's mission in Algeria, the Ambassador, Mr Jeremiah Hassan, has said.
Hassan made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Oran, Algeria, during the 151st extra-ordinary meeting of the OPEC conference.
He said that it was a huge concern to the embassy to deal with with cases of human trafficking and other criminalities involving Nigerians in Algeria.
"It is intriguing to note how lots of young Nigerians, including women, would decide to journey to Europe through the deserts.
"In the long, tortuous journey from Nigeria-Niger-Algeria, most of them die in the deserts either through exhaustion or lack of refreshments," Hassan said.
According to him, there is no job in Europe that anyone escaping from Nigeria in search of "greener pastures" cannot find back home in Nigeria.
"Lately, 21 young persons, including those who were deported and were being transported home, died in the desert. They got lost in the desert, the fuel in their vehicle got finished and they were famished and died," Hassan said.
The envoy said that the road from Algeria to Nigeria had been completed up to Niger and tarred.
"It passes through Alit-Agadez-Zinder-Kano. The federal government should begin to sensitise people on the inherent dangers in this kind of adventure.
The ambassador, who said there was a general policy on illegal migration in Europe, stressed that illegal entry attracts a jail term.
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