A Germany-based group, the Migration Enlightenment Project Nigeria (MEPN), yesterday called on the Federal Government to significantly increase consular support to Nigerian irregular migrants in the transit and destination countries.
The group noted that stranded migrants, especially those in transit, “are left totally to the mercy of the very traffickers who took them to their precarious situation.”
The MEPN is currently carrying out a campaign to promote a greater awareness of the risks and dangers of irregular migration in Nigeria.
In an emailed statement to our correspondent signed by Kenneth Gbandi and Femi Awoniyi, co-directors of the MEPN, the group said thousands of Nigerians were still stranded in detention camps in Libya.
According to the group, the ensuing desperation makes most migrants take reckless risks to escape and in the process exposed to “exploitation and often horrendous human rights abuse”.
“This explains why many migrants still take the suicidal risk of boarding rickety boats in their bid to cross the Mediterranean to safety in Europe, which is why migrants continue to die daily in the Mediterranean Sea”, the statement said.
