Stories of
Nigerians, other West Africans as well as nationals of war-torn Middle
Eastern countries drowning in the Mediterranean Sea in attempts to reach
Europe have been regular in recent years. However, the story of twenty
six young Nigerian girls between the ages of 14 to 18 found dead in a
Spanish warship has opened a new chapter in the sordid tales of illegal
migration to Europe by desperate young Africans.
A report said the girls were
believed to have been sexually abused and murdered as they attempted to
cross the Mediterranean. Following several rescues, their bodies were
discovered in a Spanish warship, Cantabria, which was carrying 375
migrants and 23 of the dead girls who had been on a rubber boat with 64
other people. According to Italian media, the bodies were being kept in a
refrigerated section of the warship. They said most of the 375
survivors brought to Salerno were sub-Saharan Africans from Nigeria,
Senegal, Ghana, The Gambia and Sudan. Among the 375 survivors were 90
women, eight of them pregnant, 52 children and some Libyan men and
women. Italian prosecutors are said to have commenced investigations.
For
many years now Nigerians have risked their lives to go through the
Sahara Desert to Libya with the help of smuggling gangs. Many lose their
lives in the process due to thirst. And even if they reach Libya they
are subjected to a life of slavery, extortion and racism from the local
security operatives and the human traffickers that are supposed to aid
their journey across the Mediterranean Sea to what they imagine are rich
green pastures in Europe.
Some spend months or years in
Libya. many of them get imprisoned or even killed in that strife-torn
country. Their relatives may never find out what happened to them. They
undertake these perilous journeys because of their belief that Europe is
a land of milk of honey with streets paved with gold. Whatever the
economic situation in Nigeria today, it is better than risking lives by
seeking to flee to Europe through illegal routes.
By now the families in some Nigerian
states that aid their daughters to undertake these perilous missions
know quite well that they are at best destined for prostitution rings in
Europe. What they may not know is the magnitude of brutality,
degradation and futility of the whole venture. The gangs that smuggle
people into Europe are said to charge as much as $6000 per person, which
makes us to wonder if these victims are pushed by poverty or greed.
Anyone who can raise such an amount in Nigeria already has the capital
to establish a small business.
Even though the government has done a
lot to check the menace of human trafficking, like establishing the
National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons [NAPTIP]
in 2003, a lot still needs to be done. Just in case some Nigerians are
still unaware of the dangers, the National Orientation Agency [NOA]
should step up efforts at public enlightenment. The responsibility does
not however lie with the government alone. Parents that willingly
encourage their daughters to go abroad for prostitution should better
have a rethink. It is repugnant to every African culture and value and
even if they no longer care for values, they should at least worry about
the very high possibility of losing their daughters to violence,
drowning and disease.
If only the Nigerian government
would effectively collaborate with the Nigerien government to break the
back of the human trafficking syndicates, then the illegal migrations
would be greatly curtailed because the desperate youngsters cannot take
themselves through these routes unaided. In the end however, it is rapid
economic growth in our own countries that will create greater
opportunities at home and bring to an end this shameful episode of our
youngsters dying in the desert and the sea while fleeing to Europe.
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