By Innocent Duru
A scandalous development reared its head during the week at the hotel used as quarantine centre for deported migrants from Austria and Germany in Lagos. Because they were stranded and vulnerable, the deportees were made to pay between N10,000 and N15,000 for SIM pack and National Identity Number (NIN) registration, both of which should not be more than N3,000. The centre was also said to have compounded their woes when it assured them of government support but later reneged. The deportees’ predicament appears to lend credence to the widely held belief that reintegration of migrants in the country is a charade, brought to the front burner only when issues of grants or redemption of national image are at stake, INNOCENT DURU reports.
After years of unsuccessful attempts to regularise their stay in Germany and other European countries, more than 30 Nigerians were deported back home last week. For most of the deportees, their return was both sudden and shocking.
At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, they looked pensive as they returned to their fatherland more wretched and frustrated than they were before leaving the country. “It is an agonising return. I never planned it this way,” one of them said downheartedly.
Their drooping spirit, however, got a lift when they arrived at a hotel on Airport Road for a seven-day quarantine programme.
“When we got there, one man told us that we would be there for seven days and that a government official would come and address us.
“He also told us that at the end of the exercise, we would be given some money. This calmed our nerves and made us happy,” one of the deportees who identified himself simply as Nma.
When the deportees completed the quarantine exercise on Tuesday, they felt highly relieved and looked forward to going to see their loved ones they had not seen for years. In the euphoria of the moment, they exchanged banter with one another and the hotel workers.
But within a split second, the convivial atmosphere at the premises gave way to deafening altercations as the deportees were asked to leave the premises without being given any money, contrary to earlier promise.
Nmasi said: “On the day we were to leave, we met the manager of the hotel to ask for the money they had promised us, but she told us that we should depart to our various homes because no government official was coming.
“The statement infuriated everybody, leading to serious protest at the premises. We vowed not to leave until government provided money for everybody to go.
“At a point, the manager threatened to invite soldiers and policemen. But rather than douse the tension, the remark further provoked us.
“Some of the deportees told her that they were fully prepared for the worst. Others threatened to turn the hotel upside down while some others who are based in Lagos threatened to bring in hoodlums to vandalise the hotel.”
Nmasi’s claims were corroborated by another deportee who identified himself simply as Jetta.
Jetta said: “They told us that the federal government had made arrangements to give us money. That raised the hope of many and prompted them buy some things at the hotel.
“The story changed at the point of departure as we were told that no government official was coming.
“Crisis erupted instantly as the manager arrogantly talked down on the people instead of calming their frayed nerves. The whole place boiled for about two hours.”
Besides the unfulfilled monetary pledge, the deportees also accused the hotel management of cruelly ripping them off without consideration for their conditions.
Nmasi said: “There was massive exploitation of our people at the hotel. The manager brought people to sell SIM cards and register us for National Identity Number at N12,000 each.
“She knew that many of them desperately needed the SIM cards to reach out to their families. That plus other forms of exploitation at the hotel made tension rise.
Culled from: The Nation newspaper
No comments:
Post a Comment