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‘27,000 Nigerian migrants died last year’

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Illegal migrants, who were rescued by the Libyan coastguard in the Mediterranean Sea off the Libyan coast, arrive at the naval base in the capital Tripoli on May 6, 2017. MAHMUD TURKIA / AFP

Twenty-seven thousand Nigerians seeking greener pasture abroad died in their quest to reach Europe through the desert and sea in 2016, according to a non-governmental organisation, RARDUJA International.

The body noted that according to statistics from the United Nations, over 602,000 Nigerians attempted the journeys in the period under review out of which 27, 000 lost their lives.

Founder and President of the group, Eddy Duru, at a seminar organised in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of External Affairs in Lagos, said Germany was disturbed by the development, stressing that it is high time Nigerians were educated on illegal immigration.

According to Duru, his organisation was working round the clock to erase the misconception among Nigerians that they could only make it outside the shore of the country.

He noted that his group wasn’t against travelling abroad but condemned dangerous trips by sea and desert.

The chairperson, The African Network of Germany (TANG), Dr. Sylvie Nantcha, deplored the tricks of traffickers to lure illegal migrants from their countries.

Painting the hardship of Nigerians living in the ghettos of Agadez, Niger Republic, said some of them told her they had not eaten for more than three days.

The TANG chief, who observed that the desert was deadlier than the Mediterranean Sea, said authorities in the area informed her that more than 50 illegal immigrants die daily in the desert.

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