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Saturday, October 29, 2016

22,500 Nigerians illegally crossed Mediterranean Sea in 2016 – EU




By Kashim Bello

The European Union has said over 22,500 illegal migrants from Nigeria crossed Mediterranean Sea to Europe between January and September as against 23,000 in 2015.

The Deputy Head of EU Delegation in Nigeria, Richard Young, made this disclosure on Thursday at a media workshop in Abuja.

Young expressed concern that the number of Nigerians taking dangerous adventure through Mediterranean to Europe within nine months in 2016 was higher than those who did same throughout 2015.

According to him, there has been huge increase in migrants crossing border without the right travel document to Europe from all over the world.

Young said: “In 2014, the number of people travelling irregularly into Europe clinched 280,000 people; in 2015 it rose to 1.8 million in 2015.

“From January to September 2016, the number is about 420,000; we are expecting that the number will rise to 800,000 before the end of the year.

“Within this number, people coming from Nigeria in 2012 was 800, in 2013 the number was 2,900, in 2014 the number was 8,700 in 2015 the number was 23,000.

“And between January and September 2016 the number is 22, 500.”

Source: Daily Post 

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