When Olumide Akanni completed his tertiary education and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) – one-year compulsory program for Nigerian graduates below 30 years – in March2015, he had hoped to get a job to meet his family’s daily needs. But he was unable to get a job. Months later, he applied to work as a security guard in a company in Nigeria’s state of Lagos.
“The pay [N30, 000 [$40]) was not what I hoped for [as a graduate of business administration],” he said. But he had no choice.
In June 2016, one of Akanni’s friends advised him to migrate to Italy where he will have the opportunity to work and be paid well. Akanni got interested and his friend connected him with a travel facilitator in Libya who explained that Akanni needs no visa to travel through the dangerous route from Nigeria through the Sahara Desert to Libya – which is the first stop before going to Europe.
Akanni quickly borrowed money from friends and sold some of his properties to raise N250, 000 ($332)he paid to the travel facilitator for his journey to Italy. But when Akanni arrived in Libya in July, the travel facilitator told him his money only covers his journey to Libya and that he would need to pay more money to enable him to continue his journey.
But Akanni had no money. So fellow irregular migrants at the ghetto he was staying introduced him to a daily pay job where he can earn and save up money to continue his journey to Europe. Just like other migrants there, Akanni learnt Arabic to enable him to communicate with clients.
But there was a problem: “People working for Arabs were exploited,” Akanni told The African Observer. This is because “you will have an agreement of payment with them and after the work; they will pay you less or don’t even pay at all. If you argue, you will get beaten [and] you can’t do anything because you don’t have the legal right to stay in that country.”
“When I got to Libya,” Akanni went on, “I saw another part of life. I saw real torture. I saw real exploitation but I never knew this kind of thing exists. What is going on there is terrible.”
Rising trend
Migration is a common phenomenon worldwide. According to a 2022 World Migration Report published by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), there were 281 million international migrants globally in 2020 or 3.6% of the world’s population. In the same year, about 3,900 dead – mainly in the Mediterranean Sea – and missing migrants were recorded globally. This number of deaths recorded is largely caused by the increasing trend in irregular migration, which the IOM defined as a movement that takes place outside the regulatory norms of the sending, transit, and receiving country.
In Nigeria, the migration rate stood at -0.29 per 1,000 population in 2021, according to Statista, a global data platform. Statista explained that this rate means that the number of people leaving Nigeria is slightly higher than that of those entering the country.
Most Nigerian migrants like Akanni have cited economic factors as the reason for migrating, even as recent data from the World Poverty Clock showed that 71 million Nigerians, or 32% of the population, are living in extreme poverty.
These days, most irregular Nigerian migrants are returning voluntarily, mainly because of the abuse, dangers, and security risks they are exposed to. Since 2017 for instance, IOM has assisted 29,000 irregular Nigerian migrants back to the country.
However, most of them still face several challenges including rejection from family and friends, accommodation problems, and lack of available jobs when they arrive. And reintegration plan which will enable returnees to participate again in the political, economic, and social activities of the country is rarely available, even as returnees face the challenge of identity as to how they are perceived by family and friends.
But Patriotic Citizen Initiatives (PCI), a local NGO, is helping to address the complex challenges returnees to Nigeria face.
PCI has a three-step process of return, readmission, and re-integration for providing support to returnees. The return takes place before returnees depart from the sending country. Here, PCI works with its international partners like IOM to first counsel returnees and explain the current realities in the country before their arrival. And when they arrive, PCI works with the Nigerian immigration officers – one of its local partners – at the airport to ensure returnees are not treated badly.
Under readmission, PCI documents returnees and ensures they are settled either at the organisation’s 40-bed shelter or returnees’ family home. Finally, the reintegration involves PCI providing counseling, psychosocial support, and business training focusing on accounting, record keeping, and how to manage funds. When the training is completed, IOM provides each returnee with funding support to start a business.
“We believe in a smooth return process whereby returnees are being handled in a dignified manner and are protected,” says Osita Osemene, PCI’s founder. “We want them to have a successful reintegration [because] a distorted return will lead to a faulty reintegration.”
Akanni went through this process when he returned voluntarily to Nigeria in Dec. 2017. After his business training in Feb. 2018, PCI first referred him to Lagos airport hotel where he worked until 2020 during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Presently, he works as the shelter manager at PCI, where he documents new returnees.
PCI has received returnees from different countries including Switzerland and Libya, and Akanni is one of the over 40, 000 migrants who has benefitted from the organisation’s support. “PCI offered me a platform and opportunity to become an advocate,” he said. “I now tell my story and talk about the dangers of illegal migration and human trafficking.”
“Saving humanity”
Osemene has similar experience as Akanni, which inspired him to start PCI. He could not get a job after completing his university education and NYSC in February 2000. He was even robbed when he traveled to Lagos to search for a job. After three years, he gave up on job search to start a business involving buying and selling of cars with his friends which later “collapsed” due to lack of funds.
Following advice from friends, Osemene got his international passport and visa in 2004 with hopes of getting a job in the UK. But when he got to the airport, Osemene was told that his international passport and visa were fake.
Frustrated by the situation, Osemene contacted one of his relations who explained the possibility of a fake visa but that he could be in Europe in six days. Osemene showed interest and his relation directed him to Delta state where he joined other migrants going through the Sahara Desert to Libya.
“That was where my predicament started,” he recalled. “It was a horrible experience because I was subjected to a slave. It was a journey full of uncertainty because at every point, we were handed to hoodlums.” Even when he arrived in Libya, “I was hiding [and] sleeping from one car wash to another.”
After five months, Osemene returned to Nigeria voluntarily and decided to go into self-rehabilitation to help him recover. After his rehabilitation, Osemene vowed to start a campaign against irregular migration and human trafficking. This then led him to start PCI in 2007.
“I am very passionate about helping victims because I understand and know what they have passed through. They require [strong] support system,” says Osemene.
But helping returnees comes with lots of challenges. Osemene explained that most of them don’t trust the organisation and would not want to follow the due process which often affects the reintegration process.
“It’s difficult [because] you are working with people who have been dehumanized, especially those who have been trafficked; they don’t easily trust people because of their experience,” Osemene explained. However, “Passion keeps us moving to ensure humanity is saved,” he adds.
Today, PCI’s team of 35 staff and volunteers works with both local and international partners including National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), Danish Refugee Council, Dutch Council for Refugees, and IOM, to give hope to irregular Nigerian migrants voluntarily returning to the country. And to discourage irregular migration, PCI frequently carries out sensitization programs to educate people about the security risk and dangers involved.
For Akanni, educating people about the dangers of irregular migration is a priority. He does not wish to see anyone go through the dangerous route he took.
“Migrating to another society to learn about their culture is good but it must be done the right way,” he said. “My dream is to create awareness and educate people on right and safe migration.”
Image Credit: Emmanuel Ikwuegbu on Unsplash
