By Ehichioya Steve Odion
The Germany Nigerian Deportees who recently attended the National Migration Dialogue in Abuja have expressed their dissapointment over the way and manner they were treated at the event.
The event which was organized by the Civil Society for Migration and Development (CSF): Strategies for State-Level Engagement for the Implementation of the 2025 National Migration Policy, attracted stakeholders like the IOM, EU and Federal Government Representatives, including some migrants who were recently deported from various countries, especially Germany.
One of the Deportees who was at the Abuja event, Bright Obasuyi expressed his disappointment at its outcome as it offered no chance to victims of forced and illegal deportation from the Europe countries and the opportunity to relieve their sordid experiences.
Obasuyi was definite in his conclusion that the Nigerian authorities would do nothing to redress the injustices meted on its citizens abroad having watch them look away when he was being brutalized by the German immigration officials at the Lagos International Airport during his illegal deportation from Germany.
Obasuyi recounted how the German officials used electric object to shock him severally and tie his stomach to the seat that almost ceased his breath inside the flight through out the eight hours journey from Germany to Nigeria and the torture that followed thereafter. “All the ill treatments they meted out on me are all trending in the social media. So, what would I expect in this kind of event that took place in Abuja”.
He further said that when the CSO, the organizers of the event brought them out to speak to the stakeholders, the IOM, EU, German representatives and others who were supposed to listen to their plights were not present, adding that when these people eventually arrived the event the following day, they approached the organizers to allow them take advantage of the opportunity, to relieve the pains of illegal deportation, torture and the racism beneath, they got no response.
He lamented that the missed chance has foreclosed some preventive measures their shared experiences could have forced the German government to put in place to check the mal-handling of immigrants in that country.
He alleged that the Nigeria’s government representatives did not want the German officials to know what they passed through, but only interested in sharing the positives in both countries’ diplomatic experiences and not the awkward and bizarre matters that have affected nigerians in Germany.
Obasuyi however, said that his case in Germany was presently being handled by a lawyer, adding that the case is on going.”This is how things are done rightly in Europe. But in Nigeria here we hide the truth. They only talk about integration and that is not real”.
He advised that in subsequent events migrants should be allowed to come to speak on all they went through during the process of deportations. He also strongly advised that the organizers should not give anybody opportunity to engage in the selection of migrants that would be allowed to come out and speak. “It should be the migrants that are facing persecution”., Obasuyi concluded.
On his part, Richies Idemudia who was equally deported from Germany said he was suddenly arrested at his work place, adding that before he could reach out to his lawyer, he had already been taken to the deportation flight to Nigeria. He said when he got to Nigeria, the situation turned out to be a difficult one as no help was coming from anywhere and not even the government.
He disclosed that he was one of the attendees of the meeting of the 2025 Migrants Day that took place in Abuja recently. He said the event though originally meant for the Migrants to share experiences, but they were not given time to speak when it mattered most.
He expressed his disappointment on the Nigeria officials who claimed to have been there to represent their interests. But that they ended up telling stories like efforts at deportees integration and support financially. He said non of them had received any support from the Nigeria government since they arrived the country.
He alleged that all the things Nigeria officials told those foreign donors such as IOM, EU and other stakeholders were said to give a false impression that the right things were being done whereas the reverse is the case. He further said that things they never thought of doing for the Migrants such as establishing them for different businesses or trades was what they were telling the donor agencies.
He appealed to the organizers of the event and other stakeholders to do the needful by sincerely establishing the migrants with financial support in their various trades.
He expressed the hope that the 2026 Migrants Dialogue Day will be such that will give migrants/deportees the necessary opportunity to speak extensively on their plights.
A female attendee, Wealth Ogbo who was also deported from Germany had earlier narrated her ordeals during her deportation. Ogbo who arrived Nigeria on the 16th of April, 2024 said she has been stranded since she arrived without any help coming from anywhere.
She recalled when she spent a month and four days in the prison before she was eventually deported from Germany. “I came home with nothing as all my belongings are right now in Germany. Now, I have no money, no clothes to wear because I only came with the one I was wearing that day I was deported”.
Ogbo who was speaking with pain in her heart said since she returned to Nigeria, she has been sick all through, moving from one herbalist to the other without any solution. She said at times she’s unable to walk and also said she has lost sight in one of her eyes. She complain of series of complications having undergone surgical operation twice in Germany.
She lamented that despite the two doctor’s reports that advice the German authorities not to deport her, they ignored them and still deported her. She also narrated how the doctors in Germany abused her with all sorts of drugs which she said has caused a lot of damage to her present health situation. She cried to all relevant government authorities to come to her aid as life has become miserable for her presently.
On the recent National Migration Dialogue organized by Civil Society group to discuss the plights of migrants who were wrongly deported, she said although they tagged the day as Migrants Day but they were never given the opportunity to achieve all that they went there for. “No opportunity to speak for ourselves. No recognition by the organizers”.
She strongly advised that when there is an opportunity for such event that the migrants should be given the opportunity to speak so that they can hear from them directly, because many people are over there suffering. She pathetically said that even as she speaks now that she presently lives inside the church since there is no help from any where because she returned home with nothing after many years abroad.
Nosa Okundia, the Treasurer of Returned Migrants Association, Edo State also made his observations known on the Abuja event.
He said he observed that the returned Migrants were not recognized even though the programme was initially meant for them. He further said that if they are really doing policy with returned Migrants they aught to have carried out a survey to ascertain what returned Migrants really mean. He said even before their arrival they had already adopted the policy they talked about.
Okundia said the day the dignitaries came such as senators, senior government officials and other stakeholders they could not even allow the returned Migrants speak, which he said it would have been good to also hear from them.
He advised that whenever such programme is being organized in future they must endeavor to meet with the returned Migrants for proper information that could assist in knowing the details of all they went through during the deportation periods.
The objective of the event was to initiate the institutionalization of the state-level migration governance through inclusive locally driven strategies that engage Civil Society and private sector stakeholders for improved coordination and implementation of the 2025 National Migration Policy.
The expected outcomes from the event was to enhance awareness and understanding of the 2025 National Migration Policy among non-state actors across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
It was meant to improve collaboration among civil society, government institutions and private sector actors in supporting coordinated and content specific migration interventions and establish pathways for sustainable local funding, driven by private sector engagement and social investment in grassroots migration governance.