The Courier

In recent times, the number of Africans who head overseas has doubled. Across the continent, throughout West Africa and Nigeria in particular, there is hardly a family without a member living overseas either legally or illegally. It is now a status symbol to have a family member overseas.

The contributions of these people to the economies of their countries, especially remittances, are growing daily. A report recently released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) shows that Nigerians in the diaspora remitted US$8 billion in the first half of this year alone, a figure expected to double by December 2007.

Decades ago, Africans were begged or lured to travel overseas to acquire Western education. This was the case in the years before and after independence when states needed manpower to run their affairs and offered scholarships to bright, young Africans.

There’s a different trend today. The door to the Western world is no longer the prerogative of educated Africans, but to anyone who can afford the fare.

It is common knowledge across West Africa that money and fortune don’t grow on the streets of Europe. What migrants seek is the abundance of opportunities lacking in Africa for both skilled and unskilled Africans. The harsh economic situation is the principal factor that propels many young Africans to migrate at all costs. The few that have succeeded are living better than those back home.

Since the early 1980s, unskilled West Africans have been moving voluntarily in large numbers to Europe for economic reasons with Spain, Italy and Malta the destinations of choice. Also on the move are those displaced by war and crisis from Liberia, Sierra Leone and more recently, Côte d‘Ivoire.

Daring to dream

Many of these travellers, who cannot secure visas directly from the embassies of Western countries, are now turning to the desert and the sea. Risking everything, they believe that the EU, under the Schengen arrangement, does not want them. As a result, they have chosen to move to countries they perceive as having a level-playing field for all who dare to dream.

The new set of immigrants, male and female, is comprised of poorly trained carpenters, bricklayers, mechanics, and some without any form of vocation. According to the Nigerian embassy in Spain, of the 18,000 Nigerians there, nearly 10,000 of them can neither read nor write English, Nigeria’s official language, because they never had any form of education. The same applies to Ghana, Senegal, Mali and Cameroon, the main illegal immigrant-generating countries in West Africa.

Many African immigrants who are today considered a security risk to Europe have made it there the hard way. They either paid exorbitant amounts to secure visas or entered through various roads and sea routes. To embark on this trip, many sold their properties or took loans that must be repaid within a stipulated time. Failure to repay often means dire consequences for families back home. To avoid this, immigrants are often forced into the ‘fast lane’ in Africa: criminal activities, prostitution and dealing hard drugs.

These illegal immigrants, uneducated and largely without any vocation, find it difficult to integrate. They face language and cultural problems, making integration difficult, if not impossible. In spite of the threat of imprisonment, racism, cultural barriers and the status of second class citizen in some overseas countries many are still defiant, embarking on the journey to better their economic condition.

Disquiet in the EU

The migration of Africans by the thousands is causing disquiet in the EU. The trend has become an issue for electoral campaigns with some parties proposing tougher measures to check the flood of immigrants.

Rumours making the rounds include several patrol boats deliberately targeting and sinking illegal immigrants’ boats as a way of stopping them from reaching Europe as well as recent revelation of brutality of African children in the Canary Islands cannot solve the problem.

For a safer Europe, jobs and assistance should be given to such people to lure them away from committing crimes across Europe. Similarly, the Schengen visa requirement should be relaxed if Europe wants immigrants coming from Africa to be under less pressure.

Whether skilled or unskilled, some of the best minds have left the continent in search of better life overseas thereby creating a void in all strata.

African leaders are responsible for the huge human capital flight overseas. There is no gain in saying that life in Africa is nasty, short and brutish. Political stability, security of life and property, first class infrastructure, opportunities to actualise one’s dreams are some of the things that attract Africans to Europe, America and Asia.

A conducive environment would not only lessen the tide but also encourage Africans in the diaspora to return home to take the continent to greater heights.

Signed in 1985, the Schengen Agreement has abolished border controls between all participating member states. Thirty states – including most EU states and non-EU States, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, but exempting EU members, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom – have to date signed. Fifteen are implementing its provisions which include common border control and a unified visa policy. All non-European areas of Portugal and Spain, including Ceuta, Melilla and the Canary Islands, implement the accord.