- The deportee says the federal government should repatriate Nigerians from India and other countries too
- Onu said his family is staying in an open church and raising money for their airplane tickets is a challenge for him
- The Nigerian deportee affirmed that the Indian government is now hostile to Nigerians
The federal government has been called upon to expand the range of its repatriation project to include not just Nigerians detained in Libya but those in other countries abroad as well.
Vanguard reports that this call was made by a Nigerian man Chukwudi Onu, who was recently deported from India due to travel documents issues.
Onu explained that at least 150 Nigerians were languishing in deportation camps in India.
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“I have been living in India for the past six years, I traveled with my family in December 2011 and on May 15th, I was arrested by Indian Immigration Police over expired visa, from there to deportation camp where I spent over a month before I was deported to Nigeria,” Onu narrated.
According to Vanguard, he claimed that the Indian government is now hostile to Nigerians.
He alleged that even those with valid passports were most times arrested and hauled into deportation camp only to be released after their papers must have been verified.
He noted that so many Nigerians in the camps have been there for over one year without any hope of returning as they have not been able to raise money for their plane tickets.
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“Yes there were over one thousand, five hundred Nigerians, because in my room, I think we were over 60 and they have over 21 rooms. There are places for Pakistanis and Afghanistans, I think I saw one Polish and an Australian, but the population of Nigerians is 20 to one of other nationals.”
Explaining the state of things in India for his family and other Nigerians at the deportation camp, Onu said that house rent and cold are some of the ordeals that make life unbearable in India.
He added: “Each ticket from New Delhi to Enugu is about N312,000 multiplied by four which is about N1.2 million but I have been able to raise about N200,000 by myself. I am only appealing to the federal and Ebonyi State governments as well as well-meaning Nigerians to assist. I don’t really need the cash, if tickets are bought from any travelling agency, I will send to them.
"I have been living in India for the past six years, I travelled with my family in December 2011 and on May 15th, I was arrested by Indian Immigration Police over expired visa, from there to deportation camp where I spent over a month before I was deported to Nigeria,” Onu narrated.
Previously, NAIJ.com reported that the United Kingdom officials were ordered to track down and pay for returning of the single 45-year old Nigerian mother and her five-year old son to the UK from Nigeria deported there in January.
The issued court decision is believed to be the first of its kind. It is the first time when an immigration judge ordered the government to return immigrant previously deported from the UK. This precedent undermines British state policy of “deporting first, appealing later”.
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Source: Naija.ng