From Walter Ukaegbu, Abuja
Facts have emerged that Nigerians accounted for an estimated 8,700 out of the 283,532 irregular migrants entering European Union (EU) borders, many of which risked their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
Mr. Richard Young, Deputy Head of Delegation, EU, made this disclosure yesterday in Abuja during a seminar on how the EU works, for Abuja Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists.
He, however, said great majority of Nigerians enter and reside in EU legally while millions of Diaspora Nigerians also live in the EU. “As a regional economic power, Nigeria is also on the receiving end of migration, attracting an estimated three million labour workers from neighbouring countries,” he said.
According to him, in the first half of 2015, Nigerian citizens ranked 9th of all persons granted international protection in EU’s 28 member states.
“Nigerian nationals are the most numerous among non-European victims of trafficking in human beings and they are also the most numerous among traffickers,” Young stated. On how to resolve the challenge, the Deputy Head of Delegations disclosed that the sector still faces serious systematic constraints that hamper the delivery of effective management of regular and irregular migration. These include, according to him, data collection and management, development of evidence-based policy, legislation and strategies on migration, coordination management and technical capacity of key agencies and budgetary commitment of the government.
Young who spoke on “EU Development Co-operation with Nigeria: Migration,” stated that the Federal Government is finding it increasingly difficult to effectively manage the growing population of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), adding that trafficking and smuggling of Nigerian citizens remain a critical challenge with regular reports of women and children exploited for sexual purpose and forced labour.
On the EU action, he explained it has provided significant financial and technical support to assist Nigeria in addressing some of these challenges through the projects “promoting better management of migration in Nigeria” implemented at the national level by the International Organisation for Migration (IDM) and UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and “support to free movement of persons and migration in West Africa” implemented at the regional levels by IDM and ECOWAS.
He further disclosed that in March 2015, the EU and Nigeria signed a Common Agenda on Migration and Mobility (CAMM) in Brussels, which was the first common agenda signed between EU and another country.
Young stressed that the CAMM was a joint effort to comprehensively address the need to improve management of migration and mobility based on common political principles and reciprocity.