Germany to deport 12,000 Nigerians

German government has concluded plans to deport 12,000 Nigerians who are seeking asylum in the country.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on diaspora affairs, Abike Dabiri-Erewa hinted that the German embassy in Nigeria has intimated her office about the plans to repatriate 12,000 Nigerians who are seeking asylum in the country.

She describes the development as unfortunate, adding that 128 Nigerians also died while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea. Dabiri-Erewa disclosed yesterday at the public presentation of two books “From Libya with Tears’’ and “Practical News and Feature Writing’’ written by former Managing Editor/Director of News Agency of Nigeria, Mr Dele Bodunde. “Just some days ago, 128 Nigerians died in the Mediterranean sea out of 576. Most of them were from West African countries and they were on their way to Europe.

“Now, this is an unfortunate incident and I think it is better to remain in Nigeria and keep struggling, instead of making desperate journeys that could take their lives,’’ she said Dabiri-Erewa, who was represented by her Special Assistant on Media, Mr Abdul-Rahman Balogun said some Nigerians had been trapped in Libya and were subjected to various inhuman treatments and that only the intervention of the Federal Government had ensured the return of many. 

The Presidential aide commended Bodunde for writing a book on the travails of Nigerians in Libya, saying the work could not have come at a better time. Also speaking at the occasion, a former governor of Ogun State and a veteran journalist, Chief Olusegun Osoba, said there was the need for journalists to constantly update themselves with the requisite skills of the profession. According to Osoba, the main problem to the development of the profession is a deficit in skills.

Vanguard