MMIA intensifies awareness against smuggling of migrants

By : NAN

Date: 25 December 2022 4:52pm WAT

IDPs stand on a lorry toward the gate of the Bakassi IDPs Camp before leaving to their respective home in Maiduguri on November 30, 2021 as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Maiduguri have vacated their camps ahead of today, dateline for the closure of all Displaced Persons camps by the Borno Government. - Some of the IDPs from Gwoza, Monguno and Guzamala Local Government Areas facilitate their home return. The states Commissioner for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, said the development was part of government commitment to close all IDP camps in Maiduguri in line with its resettlement programme. (Photo by Audu MARTE / AFP)

Until recently, the nation’s borders were known to be porous without rigorous checks, which made smuggling of migrants very easy.

Not everyone has the requirements to get visas to other countries, this is the point which the smugglers take advantage of.

The smugglers assure the victims that the visa they could not get at embassies and high commissions, they could get from the back door, and convey them through illegal routes to Europe and other countries.

A Libyan returnee and survivor, Miss Tobi Apata, has become an advocate of sorts, she tells Nigerian youths never to fall into the same trap as she came back amputated, she lost her left arm.

She appealed to the Federal Government to provide employment for youths, to prevent them from being preys to traffickers.

Miss Abigail Kukumo, an indigene of Osun , who traveled since 2019 cannot be traced till date .

Abigail’s family members have remained sad and still searching for her.

However, the appointment of Mr Idris Jere as the Comptroller-General (CG) of the Nigerian Immigration Service (CGIS) made smugglers to “no longer be at ease” due to deployment of skilled personnel to the porous routes.

The Jere-led administration, in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on Sept. 14, unveiled the Observatory Report on Smuggling of Migrants (SOM).

The report is meant to unravel the dynamics of smuggling of migrants’ activities through and to Nigeria, between 2019 and 2021.

An instructive finding of the research is that 75 per cent of Nigerians say they planned to use Migrant Smugglers or Travel Facilitators, when preparing for their journey as compared to 21 per cent, who said they had not planned to do so.

The Report further indicates that 72 per cent of those surveyed say that someone or something influenced their decision to migrate, while just 9 per cent of that group cited smugglers as the most important influence.

On gender profiling of Migrant Smugglers, the report states that 78 per cent are men, 22 per cent are women.

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The NIS MMIA command, Lagos State, under the leadership of Comptroller of Immigration Service (CIS), Mrs Adeola Adesokan, said it had joined in the struggle to address the “monster”.