Some of the 103 Nigerians deported from the Republic of Türkiye have recounted their unpalatable experience and how their former host country was using the European Union support for refugees to hound them.
The deportees also alleged that Türkiye authorities withheld the one-off €2,500 that each deportee was supposed to receive.
According to reports, the 103 newly deported Nigerians were sent back home over migration related issues such as expired visa, irregular migration, among others. However, the deportees have different tales to tell concerning what appears to be their unceremonious deportation.
One of the deportees, Arinze Stone, said that Turkish authority arrested and detained him in the camp for about six months. Stone said he had been living in Turkey for quite some years, doing business.
“They were arresting people whose papers were not yet out or just expired,” he said.
He alleged that it was since the European Union started paying Türkiye for illegal immigrants, that the government stopped issuing and renewing resident permits.
It may be recalled that, in 2016, the European Union had promised to give Ankara €6bn to help the estimated 2.7 million Syrians then stuck on Turkish soil. The idea was that it will also become easier for Turks to get European visas, and the EU will pay greater lip-service to the idea of Türkiye becoming a member state.
Under the arrangement, for each Syrian returned to Türkiye, Europe had promised to accept another Syrian living in a Turkish camp – though if the Aegean flow stops, this mechanism is not likely to see much use.
Narrating his experience in Türkiye, Stone alleges that, “Each day, the European Union pays €120 per head of immigrants in the immigration camp.
“Ever since I had been in Türkiye, I always had my resident permit renewed. It just got expired and Turkish authority collected €700 from me for tax and insurance and then cancelled the renewal,” he explained.
Stone added that the deportation fee of about €2,500 that was supposed to be given to each deportee was not paid.
Another deportee, Moses Emeh, said he had a registered company in Türkiye, which had been functioning for more than eight years.
“I also have a resident permit, which was forcibly cancelled but I had earlier planned to convert it into work permit.
“I don’t know where to start from. But I believe this is a diplomatic issue and I trust our foreign affairs minister to follow it up.
“I also think that they should have a sensitisation programme for Nigerians still living over there in Türkiye, because the Turkish government is not being sincere and transparent with us,” Emeh stated
He narrated that he was arrested and put in a dungeon for 11 months and three weeks.
“I was told that If I did not sign the deportation documents, I will have to stay in their custody for one year to two years, after which I could be released and given immigration documents to sign, then be reintegrated into the system. But, they never fulfilled that.
“I also know that occupying a territory without a permit is a crime, but mine was forcibly terminated twice, and I took the case to court.
“Since my case was already in court and the court was yet to preside over my case, I don’t think it is right for them to deport me,” he added.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the returnees were given some dignity kits, starter-packs and stipends to enable them travel to their respective places.
The Federal Commissioner, National Commission for Refugees Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), Tijani Ahmed, stated this on Friday evening during the deportees’ profiling in Abuja.
Represented by Ambassador Catherine Udida, the Director Migration Affairs in the commission, Ahmed said that the commission expected 110 deportees but received 103, all males.
“Some of them have been in the deportation camp for some months, and now that they are here, we are hoping to follow up on all the allegations gathered in their profiling.
“We will go through the profiling forms because some of them have said that their passports were seized.
We are going to follow up with the Turkish authority, because the passports are still the property of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he assured.
According to him, the NCFRMI is the mandate agency responsible for all returnees, irrespective of their status.
“We also have a programme where we train them and thereafter reintegrate them into the society”, the Federal Commissioner stated.
Similarly, Bashir Garga, the North-Central Zonal Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), assured the returnees of government readiness to support them through collaborative efforts of all relevant agencies.(NAN)
