Despite international obligations of their host countries to protect their lives, it is sad that the killing of Nigerians in foreign countries has continued unabated. This is a worrisome development, considering that Nigerians are among the most travelled people in the world. Between 500,000 and one million Nigerian immigrants are said to be resident in the United States (US) and twice that number in the United Kingdom (UK), two of the highest destinations of Nigerian migrants.
About 141,000 Nigerians migrated to the United Kingdom between June 2022 and June 2023, according to the UK authorities. In the first half of 2023 alone, the UK has granted 132,000 Nigerians visas. Besides, millions of Nigerians are living in all corners of the globe for different reasons. The population of Nigerians in Brazil is about 100,000 while over 10,000 Nigerians live in China.
The prevailing hardship in the country, unemployment, unstable academic calendar, and lack of basic amenities have reportedly compelled millions of Nigerians, especially the youths, to leave the country for greener pastures abroad.
A new report has revealed that over 300 Nigerian citizens have been brutally killed extra-judicially abroad in the past seven years with no justice to the victims and their families. However, there have been some positive resolutions of late. In October this year, a Nigerian medical student, Ikem, was allegedly killed by a group of Chinese in the Philippines. According to an eye witness account, the Nigerian “was brutally murdered by a group of Chinese; they tied his hands up, covered and tied his mouth and was beaten blue-black until he gave up the ghost.”
The report drew the prompt intervention of Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), the agency responsible for issues affecting Nigerians overseas. Later, the Chairman of NiDCOM, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, told the Senate Joint Committees on Diaspora and Intergovernmental Affairs and Foreign Affairs that the employer of Ikem had been charged with murder with five others.
Similarly, in July 2022, Alika Ogorchukwu, a 39-year-old physically challenged Nigerian, was beaten to death by Filippo Claudio Giuseppe Ferlazzo, an Italian man, on a busy street in front of indifferent onlookers, in Civitanova Marche city, Italy, with no serious attempt to prevent the murder of the Nigerian.
The 32-year-old Italian was, on July 30, arrested on charges of having murdered Ogorchukwu and stealing his phone. The Italian police said they believed Ferlazzo attacked Ogorchukwu after he had asked his girlfriend to buy a handkerchief. In September 2023, the Italian was sentenced to 24 years imprisonment.
Also, Northern Cyprus has become notorious for unresolved murders of Nigerians in the country. A statement by NiDCOM said some of these deaths without any resolution from 2016 include those of 25-year-old Mr. Ibrahim Khaleel Bello, in 2020; 28-year-old Kennedy Taomwabwa Dede, a student of Eastern Mediterranean University, killed on February 1, 2018; Walshak Augustine Ngok, a student at Near East University on April 19, 2019; Gabriel Soriwei, a first-year student at Cyprus International University, Nicosia, among others.
In Canada, two Nigerian men, 25-year-old Tosin Amos-Arowoshegbe and 22-year-old Chibueze Momah, were killed in the city of Vaughan. According to the York Regional Police, the victims were shot following an altercation with Canadians at the lounge where they were working.
Other unresolved murders involving Nigerians included Chizoba Favour Eze killed in Kaliti Prison, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on March 12, 2023 after allegedly being brutalised by Ethiopian prison officials. It was gathered that the deceased Nigerian was left untreated after the battering by law enforcement agents.
We condemn the brutal killings of Nigerians in foreign countries and urge Nigerian authorities to ensure that there is justice for the victims. Article 9/10 of the UN International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families specifies that the right to life of migrant workers and members of their families shall be protected by law and no migrant worker or member of his or her family shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
We call on NiDCOM to do more to unravel the mysteries behind these murders. We also enjoin the Nigerian government to collaborate with international human rights organisations and governments to bring the killers of the Nigerians to book. The life of every Nigerian should matter, whether in Nigeria or abroad.