Lucy George, a development economist and
former staff of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, has advised
Nigerians to remain in Nigeria and contribute to its national and economic
development.
George gave the advice in an interview with the News
Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Saturday.
She said Nigerians should pay attention to the overwhelming number of
Nigerians that had been deported from various countries while escaping the poor
economic level of development in Nigeria.
“We as Nigerians have a problem that should be tackled and that is the
development of Nigeria."
“We can’t sit down and expect the Federal Government to do everything
because developing a country requires the people in it to be productive and
strengthening to the private sector."
“All the developed countries in the world are dominated by the private
sector which creates massive employment opportunities and eliminates poverty,”
she said.
George said that she was surprised that a large number of Nigerians had been
sent back, especially from Libya.
“We have had an overwhelming number of Nigerians deported or voluntarily
returned this year which is embarrassing."
“The largest number of Nigerian deportees for this year comes from
Cameroon which deported about 100,000 Nigerians who escaped the Boko Haram
disasters and sought refuge in Cameroon."
“That was seen to be an illegal deportation which still is being denied
by some Cameroonian officials, however, we are not including that in the
embarrassing statistics."
“I am surprised by the number of Nigerians that have been deported and
have volunteered to return to Nigeria from Libya just this week as 161 people
arrived on Thursday and 257 people did same on Tuesday."
“There were also 164 people deported in May, 171 in March and another
171 in February."
“In February and May, South Africa had deported 97 and 90 Nigerians
respectively in midst of the xenophobic attacks."
“We saw it to be discriminatory at first, but later realized they
actually did commit immigration-related offenses causing them to be deported by
the South African authorities,” she said.
She added that Nigerians should remain in the country to develop it so
that they won’t lose out when Nigeria becomes better.
“If everyone is leaving the county for greener pastures, who is expected
to remain in Nigeria to develop it; anyone who doesn’t grow in the system will
lose out when the country becomes better."
“Imagine a scenario where a young man graduates from the university then
leaves Nigeria in search of greener pastures but after arriving, fails to
succeed in the new land."
“He realizes that things are not as fabulous as portrayed in movies as
these countries have tougher systems, especially because he doesn’t meet the
requirements for career jobs in their country."
“He spends time being too embarrassed and broke to return to Nigeria but
finally gets deported after many years".
“In that time, he has lost the opportunity to put his education to
practice, develop productive skills, and has lost contact with friends who
would have helped him develop himself or place him in a prominent
position."
“Nigerians should learn to be hardworking and patient to see their hard
work reap its benefits because riches don’t come overnight."
“The countries they are running to didn’t develop overnight so you can’t
expect to comfortably reap what you didn’t sew thinking the roads are paved
with gold."
“In summary, I will emphasize on the fact that there is no place like
home so I hope Nigerians learn from these numerous Nigerians that have been
brought back home."
Reports say that there has been a minimum of 1549 Nigerians sent back to
Nigeria with the exemption of the controversial 100,000 sent from Cameroon.
Figures show there was a minimum of 23 Nigerians deported from Spain,
187 from South Africa, 924 from Libya, 110 from Italy, 41 from the U.S, 146
from the UK, and 118 from six other European countries.
The countries include Austria, Germany, Hungry, Switzerland, Norway, and
Denmark.
Source: Sahara Reporters
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