DELEGATES were told yesterday that 16, 300 Nigerians were as of
2012 languishing in prisons abroad with some of them on death row. According to the revelation, 6,000 Nigerians are awaiting
death penalties for drug-related offences, while 5,145 Nigerian girls are in
bondage after being trafficked. Another 3,719 Nigerians are also suffering in
Canada; over 752 are in British jails, about 700 in China, 500 in India and 96
in Indonesia of which 23 are on death row.
Former Health Minister and a delegate on the platform of South
East Geo- political zone, Prof Ihechukwu Madubuike, reeled out these figures
while contributing to the report of the Foreign Policy and Diaspora Matters
Committee chaired by Prof. Ibrahim Agboola Gambari.
Madubuike noted that consular services were not enough to take
care of challenges faced by Nigerians in the Diaspora and staff, which has led
to the recommendation for the creation of Foreign Service Commission. His words: “If a nation’s foreign policy is a mix of strategies
to safeguard the interest of the nation, then they must pay special interest to
our diasporan citizens, especially those diasporans who are in jail or who have
been detained justly or unjustly.
Nigeria image are been dirty abroad.
ReplyDeleteMillions of Nigerians are in one form of imprisonment or the other, insecurity being the major prison yard that has engulfed all including federal government. While we try to battle the man-made insecurity here, anyone who decides to go into drugs deserves no pity.
ReplyDeleteDrug dealing is a very dirty and risky business, people should desist from it.
ReplyDeleteWhat can a Nigerian citizen boast of, as a citizen of Nigeria, what have you benefited from your country?