Nigeria News
Youth Migration And Implication
By Tosin Ajiboye
Monday 12 August was this year’s International Youth Day, and the theme was: Youth Migration and Implication for Development.
Migration is the movement of people from one place to another. It can be international (movement between different countries) and it can be internal (movement within a country, often from rural to urban areas).
More people are migrating today than at any other point in human history. Migrants travel in many different ways and for different reasons. People move in order to improve their standards of living, to give their children better opportunities, or to escape from poverty, conflict and famine.
Today, with modern transportation and communications, more people are motivated and able to move because one of the characteristics of a living thing is movement.
People hold various views about whether migration is good or bad, and often they disagree about a particular situation. Sometimes migration has a positive impact for the people who migrate and on the area they leave or move to, but at other times migration has negative consequences.
Regardless of people’s opinion about migration it is very important to commit one’s journey into God’s hand.
Thousands of Nigerians and other African citizens are languishing in jail in some foreign countries while others have been executed for various offences in the course of seeking greener pasture.
For instance, in Saudi Arabia, molestation, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Saudi Arabia’s strict interpretation of Islamic shari’ah law.
On 13 May, 2000, seven Nigerians were beheaded after being convicted of robbing a bank in which their victims were reported to have been injured. Three other Nigerians convicted of involvement in the same armed robbery had their right hands and left feet amputated according to Amnesty International Report released on 15 June, 2000.
In another development, The High Commissioner of Nigeria to the United Kingdom, Dr. Dalhatu Sarki Tafida in October 2011 revealed that at least 500 Nigerians were languishing in United Kingdom prisons for various offences ranging from immigration issues to criminal activities.
According to him, well over 1,000 Nigerians were clamped into prisons as at the time he was appointed the high commissioner, a development he said tainted the image of Nigeria in no small way. He, however, regretted that many of Nigeria’s citizens in the United Kingdom were surviving via illegal means like credit card fraud, internet scams, obtaining by trick, immigration paper forgery, among others.
However, travelling abroad with a good intention and through legal means is right and backed by international law.
Articles 13 and 14 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights say; “Everyone has the right to freedom of movement within their own country and to travel from and to their country.
“Everyone facing persecution has the right to asylum in other countries”.
But as good and legal as travelling out is, it is expedient and necessary for everyone planning to travel to go with all the necessary papers, and most importantly to commit his journey into God’s hand.
There are some bad reasons why people travel abroad, which underscores the fact that there are two sides to every situation in life. As some people are travelling abroad for good reasons, some are also travelling for bad reasons. Here are some of the bad reasons why people are trooping abroad:
Drug Trafficking: Some people travel across the globe for drug trafficking. Their motive is to make quick money through smuggling of hard drugs. Drug traffickers can go to any length to carry out their shady business. Some people will swallow drugs and they will be operated upon to remove the drug they have swallowed when they get to their destinations. Some women conceal drugs in their private parts, while others will hide drugs in their luggage. Other drug traffickers use charms so that security agents or scanning machines will not be able to detect the hidden drugs on them or in their luggage.
Saudi Arabia has one of the highest rates of capital punishment in the world. Of the 766 executions recorded by Amnesty International between 1990 and 1999, over half were of migrant workers and other foreign nationals. While a high proportion of those were Asian migrant workers mainly from Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Nepal- who comprise between 60 and 80 per cent of Saudi Arabia’s workforce — at least 72 were Nigerians, mostly convicted for drug smuggling or armed robbery.
By mid-June 2000, Saudi Arabia had executed 53 people, 25 of them in May, 19 were Saudi Arabian nationals and 30 were foreign nationals, including from Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Sudan, Eritrea, Yemen, the Philippines, Ethiopia, Egypt and Iraq. Migrant workers and other foreign nationals have faced discriminatory treatment under the criminal justice system in Saudi Arabia.
Human Trafficking: 2004 US State Department figures indicate that 600,000-800,000 women and children are trafficked annually across international borders. Approximately 80% are women and up to 50% are minors. The vast majority of those trafficked under 18 years of age are girls. Male minors account for only 2% of trafficking cases. The United Nations estimates a figure closer to 4 million as a total for internationally and internally trafficked people. UNICEF estimates 1,200,000 children were trafficked globally in 2000. Men, women, and children are trafficked for many purposes – sexual exploitation, begging, underpaid and exploited forced labour in the agricultural, manufacturing and construction industries, domestic service and organ harvesting. Trafficking in humans is a highly lucrative business. Estimated profits are between US $ 7-$ 10 billion annually.
Selling of body parts: Some people (mostly young people) travel abroad to sell some vital parts of their bodies for money. There are several wealthy patients in some leading hospitals in Europe, America and in Asia who need either kidney, liver or other sensitive parts of the body. These patients are ready to pay any amount of money for anybody that can donate any part of the body they need. Young people across the globe get this information on the internet and they follow it up.
In Spain, Italy, Greece and Russia, advertisements by people peddling organs — as well as hair, sperm and breast milk — have turned up on the internet, with asking prices for lungs as high as $ 250,000. The main supply countries have traditionally been China, India, Brazil and the Philippines. But experts say Europeans are increasingly vulnerable.
An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 kidneys are illegally sold globally each year, according to Organs Watch, a human rights group in Berkeley, California, that tracks the illegal organ trade. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that only 10 percent of global needs for organ transplantation are being met. Data from WHO shows that of the 106,879 solid organs known to have been transplanted in 95 member states in 2010 (legally and illegally), about 73,179 (68.5%) were kidneys. But those 106,879 operations satisfied just 10% of the global need, the WHO said.
What to know before Travelling out:
Culture: It is often said that “one man’s food is another man’s poison”. Before travelling/migrating to another country or area, it is good to have an idea of the culture of the place, for easy adaptation and for good human relationship/interaction.
According to the findings of United States on African immigration to United States, African immigrants tend to retain their culture once in the United States. Instead of abandoning their various traditions, they find ways to reproduce and reinvent themselves and this has landed some immigrants in jail since there is no ignorance before the law.
Economy: Young people from Africa who are trooping to Europe and America seeking for employment must study the state of economy of the country they intend to go, because most of the European Union member states are still battling with the effects of economic recession and unemployment rate is still very high.
The unemployment rate in the United States initially doubled from when the recession began in December 2007, but has since fallen. However, it will probably hover above 8% through 2013, even though the recession is over. That’s because employers resist hiring new workers until they are absolutely sure the economy will stay strong.
Religion: Religion may be seen in a narrow sense to refer to a set of theological belief held and rituals performed by members of a particular group. There are many religions all over the world which include: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Shintoism, Buddhism, Taosim, etc. each of these religions is popular in some places than the other.
Language: Each country has a different official language they are speaking and it is important for anyone that is travelling abroad to have a little idea about the language of the country he is visiting for easy communication.
Nigerian governments must work hard this year to improve the living conditions of its citizens so as to discourage travelling at all costs syndrome among the youth and to discourage brain drain.
I enjoin everyone planning to travel abroad this year for greener pasture to first look abroad for help and for direction.
Happy International Youth Day to all the young people all over the world and I pray we shall get there by His grace.
• Ajiboye, a youth leader and public affairs commentator wrote in from Lagos State. e-mail: johntosin21@yahoo.com. This piece was taken from his book titled ‘ABOVE OR ABROAD’ to be launched soon.
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The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.
The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.
Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.
Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.
Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.
Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.
In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.
Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.
Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.
However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.
Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.
Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria
By Ugochukwu Alaribe
Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
The market women, said to be from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.
Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.
A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.
Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.
Sourced From: Vanguard News
Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole
The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.
Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.
He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid in January 2020.
‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.
She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.
He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.
The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.
Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.
He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’
He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.
Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.
Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend.
He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart.
Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.
The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”
The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad, saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts. This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”
When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose.
Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them.
Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter.
“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said.
Sourced From: Tribune
Nigeria records 55 new COVID-19 infections, total now 165,110
Military, Police Ring Abuja to Forestall Boko Haram Attack
UFC: Usman gets N584m after beating Masvidal
Insecurity: Lagos bans occupation of abandoned buildings
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