SPECIAL: MIGRATION ENLIGHTEMENT PROJECT NIGERIA

Germany-based group advises aspiring migrants in Nigeria

The Migration Enlightenment Project Nigeria (MEPN), a Germany-based initiative promoting safe migration, has noted that criminal human trafficking networks continued to be the main driver of irregular emigration in Nigeria. In view of the thousands of Nigerians stranded in various transit and destination countries around the world where they’re exposed to human rights abuses, the MEPN has issued a brief …

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MEPN tasks Nigerian government on consular support for irregular migrants

The Migration Enlightenment Project Nigeria (MEPN) has called on the Nigerian government to “significantly increase consular support” to Nigerian irregular migrants in the transit and destination countries. The Germany-based group made the call in a press statement, released on Monday 26 November, arguing that stranded migrants, especially in transit, are left totally at the mercy of the very traffickers who …

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MEPN appeals to Nigerian media to focus more on migration issues

Speech delivered by Femi Awoniyi, Co-Director of Migration Enlightenment Project Nigeria (MEPN), at the 12th Nigeria Media Nite-Out Award 2018 at the Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja, on Sunday, 23 September 2018. Too many Nigerians are dying daily in the course of irregularly migrating to Europe. Too many are stranded in Europe, unable to obtain legal residency and obliged to return home. Too …

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Nigerian youths should acquire vocational skills, stakeholders appeal in Lagos

The refrain at the Stakeholders’ Roundtable Dialogue on Migration, organised by the Migration Enlightenment Project Nigeria (MEPN), last weekend was an appeal to Nigerian youths to acquire vocational skills. Addressing the event, a series of consultation with civil society on issues deriving from irregular migration, Engr. Deremi Elebute called on youths to realize that the nation’s job market had changed …

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Chaos in Libya, Mediterranean crossing more deadly – Group warns young Nigerians

The Migration Enlightenment Project Nigeria (MEPN) has warned would-be migrants to avoid irregular routes as the security situation in Libya worsens and death rates in the Mediterranean soar. In a statement released Tuesday in Lagos and jointly signed by the co-directors of the initiative, Kenneth Gbandi and Femi Awoniyi, the MEPN pointed to the declaration of a state of emergency …

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Irregular migrants heading to South Africa also face hell, reveals Congo-based Nigerian doctor

While the focus of awareness campaigns have been on the travails of those journeying north to Europe through Libya, Nigerians travelling by land irregularly towards South Africa are also suffering hell. That was the revelation made by Dr Kingsman Chikelu, Chairman of the Africa chapter of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) in Enugu on Saturday at the Stakeholders’ Roundtable …

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Advice for Nigerian youths as Roundtable on Migration kicks off in Abuja

The series of consultation with civil society on irregular migration, organised by the Migration Enlightenment Project Nigeria (MEPN), kicked off in Abuja on Saturday [18 August]. The Stakeholders’ Roundtable Dialogue on Migration brought together youths, parents and multipliers, such as journalists, artists, educationists and religious leaders, among others, to exchange ideas and experiences on the issues deriving from irregular migration. …

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Campaign to Promote Safe Migration in Nigeria II commences

A new phase of the campaign to raise public awareness on the dangers and risks of irregular migration in Nigeria by the Migration Enlightenment Project Nigeria (MEPN) has commenced. Round of dialogue with multipliers such as journalists, youth groups, women associations, students, artists and religious and traditional leaders, to hold in Abuja, Enugu, Lagos and Benin-City. Despite last October’s CNN …

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Diaspora group calls for tougher punishment for human traffickers in Nigeria

Reacting to the death of 26 Nigerian women who drowned in the Mediterranean on 5 November 2017 and the CNN video report showing Nigerians being traded as slaves in Libya, the Migration Enlightenment Project Nigeria (MEPN) has called for tougher laws against human trafficking to bring “the needless deaths to an end”. The MEPN is currently carrying out an information campaign …

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Coming to Europe? Please not through Libya

The situation of irregular migrants in Libya which in better times was always precarious has assumed a humanitarian crisis proportion. Femi Awoniyi* explains why the North African country is fast becoming a dead-end for migrants. The current humanitarian crisis in Sabratha, Libya, has once again brought the precarious situation of migrants in the North African country to the fore. The …

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Germany launches website to discourage irregular migrants

There is currently a humanitarian crisis in Libya where between 800,000 and 1 million migrants are trapped. Most of them are waiting to embark on the perilous journey across the Mediterranean to Europe. With new measures adopted by the Libyan government and other similar developments, the chances of the overwhelming majority of the migrants reaching Europe are almost foreclosed. Most …

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Nigerian migrants should avoid Libya for now – MEPN advises

Policies aimed at reducing the number of migrants arriving in Europe across the Mediterranean from Libya are trapping refugees in the country where they’re exposed to harsh living conditions and widespread human rights abuses, group warns. Would-be Nigerian migrants have been advised to avoid Libya due to recent developments in the North African country. The advice was issued in a …

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What Nigerian youths should know about Irregular Migration to Europe

Femi Awoniyi** on ‘Look before you Leave!’ an information campaign by the Migration Enlightenment Project Nigeria (MEPN) to raise awareness of the risks and dangers of irregular migration. ——————————————————————– Irregular Migration  We receive daily news of the suffering of young African migrants seeking better opportunities in Europe through illegal routes. The ordeal that many go through either in the transit …

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Nigerian youths warned as migration awareness campaign kicks off in Lagos

Youths have been advised to properly assess all their options before deciding to travel abroad for greener pastures. The advice was given by Hon. Kenneth Gbandi, president of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) Europe, on Tuesday (12 September) while launching the campaign again irregular migration in Lagos. The Germany-based journalist and media consultant said travelling abroad does not in …

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Nigerian Diaspora to launch campaign for Safe Migration in Lagos

An information campaign to raise public awareness of the dangers of irregular migration will kick off  at the Centre for Management Development in Lagos on 12 September. Initiated by African-German Information Center (AGIC), Hamburg, and The African Courier Verlag, Berlin, with the support of Germany’s Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the campaign under the aegis of the “Migration Enlightenment Project in Nigeria (MEPN)” …

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