A few days ago, Italy buried twenty six Nigerian women fed to the Mediterranean by a country so blessed yet so plundered by those who should care but do not. Nigerian migrants seeking better lives in Europe swelled the ranks of 2,982 (figure from International Organisation for Migration) perished as at November 17, 2017. These are the number of recovered bodies. Many were lost to the dunes of the desert and the depths of the Mediterranean Sea and never recovered. People have different reasons for fleeing their countries. Some think they will find a better life in Europe, others just want to get away from a war zone. Whatever their reasons are, everyone taking a step into this huge unknown, feels they have no other option. For Nigerian migrants, the perilous journey is undertaken mainly for economic reasons. The journey from Nigeria to Tripoli in Libya is called the central route. Libya serves as a portal to the Mediterranean and the promise of a safe haven in Europe. For those who made it into Europe, those who died in the desert, those who drowned in the Mediterranean, those sold onto slavery and those who braved it or found their way home, Libya is the purgatory. It is the deadliest undertaking of a lifetime.
Long before the Cable News Network (CNN) documentary, the North African migrant route is well known as a notorious slave market tormenting hundreds of young African men bound for Europe via Libya. For the Nigerian, the journey starts in Kano through Agadez in Niger Republic, a distance of about 700 kilometres. It is true that people have the choice and freedom to emigrate, however the failure of the Nigerian system and government starts right from the Nigerian end of the border. Border officials see the young men and women fleeing Nigeria as meal tickets. They extort and exploit them at checkpoints before allowing them to proceed on their journeys. In Niger, they endure more brutality in the hands of the Nigerien gendarmes. To the migrants who had no idea what lay in wait, and long accustomed to suffering, that is a small price to pay.
The real horror of the journey starts manifesting at Agadez. From the account of migrants with who I have spoken, and who made it to Europe, the migrant road network ends at Agadez, and the rest is an ocean of endless sand dunes! The real suicidal desert trip to Libya is from Agadez and the trip is undertaken only on Mondays. Agadez is a slave market where humans are haggled over like merchandise. At this point, migrants begin to have a feel of what awaits them. Hundreds of young men and women from the ECOWAS sub-region are sorted in groups of 20 to 30 into double-cabin pick-up vans for the trip to Libya. Migrants are advised to hold on to a stick tied to a rope in the cabin, to stop them from falling off during the bumpy ride. The rotting bodies of those who fell off the overloaded truck while asleep or who died of exhaustion and were thrown off, litter the distance between Agadez and Qatroun. Between Qatroun and Sebha in South-Western Libya is the home of kidnappers. Several male migrants from a dozen countries including Nigeria, Ghana and Gambia are kidnapped, sold into slave labour for between $200 and $500, forced to join the militias or get killed. That was what was shown on CNN. Migrants who fall into the hands of smugglers face systematic malnutrition, sexual abuse and even murder. Women are forced to marry bandits, terrorists or sold as sex slaves to owners of brothels. Many are raped repeatedly. Those who still have support to fall back on at home can buy their freedom if their families can wire funds between N500,000 to N1,000,000 in ransom to desert warlords or militia groups.
The costs of this journeys of desperation in human and monetary terms to Africa is huge. Migrants set out, without the faintest idea of the torture archipelago that awaits them in Libya. They have no idea of the vagaries of the unforgiving desert and the perils of crossing the Mediterranean in fishing boats overloaded with hundreds of other migrants. Along the journey, they become commodities to be bought, sold and discarded when they have no more value. Those who make it to the beaches of the Mediterranean in Libya pay $250 to $400 for smugglers who ferry them in commercial fishing boats too old to sail and not worth the new engines in them or in flimsy polyurethane dinghies hardly suitable for crossing a river, much less a vast sea. I was told some captains have not even been to Italy before and some have not captained anything! Every day, I get emails and calls from people seeking advice on a variety of life’s struggles. This story, this account, is from the real life experiences of two men and a woman who made the journey through Libya. One of the men made it to France, the lady and the other guy made it to Italy. All three watched their co-travelers die and are nursing serious psychological wounds.
It is important to understand that the journey to Europe does not end when migrants get ashore. Many end up in Lampedusa, Italy. Migrants have no idea that Italy is in a crisis of its own, with its own citizens leaving to find work in northern Europe. Many of them think they can move and look for work in other European countries, it is not that easy. The Dublin treaty says refugees must remain in the country where they landed. I have dedicated my column this week to this issue because a few people have told me they will rather die trying than stay to face a future that does not exist. I don’t know if I can stop them. All I can do is to lay the perils of the journey bare. It is a perilous journey for which many perish for a chance at freedom and dignity.
We all know the harsh realities in Nigeria. We know economic opportunities and social mobility for young people have become mirages. Some of us know, we understand, appreciate and share the frustrations of not having a future to look up to by young Nigerians. Personally, I get the despondency, the hopelessness and the urge to leave by any means necessary. If you read this and you plan on leaving, please do not journey through the desert. Do not look to sail the Mediterranean in a rickety boat. Traveling through the Sahara desert as economic migrants is a perilous and unworthy risk. The Sahara is unforgiving. It has retained it state of nature, where might is king. The journey will drag you through several layers of hell with AK-47 assault rifle constantly in your face.
And to the Nigerian government, when are you going to stop feeding your young men and women to the Sahara and the Mediterranean? When are you going to plan and give opportunities and hope for young men and women in this land? When?
Credit: Bamidele Ademola Olateju, Premium Times