The House of Representatives has directed its Committee on Diaspora and Foreign Affairs to liaise with the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the British High Commission over the planned deportation of 29,000 Nigerians from the United Kingdom.
Among the resolution reached on this matter was to seek the audience of the British High Commissioner to Nigeria to explain the reasons behind the planned mass deportation.
This matter was brought to the house as a matter of urgent public importance by House member Hon Rita Orji (Lagos/PDP), drawing the attention of the House to the dangers of the proposed deportation of 29,000 Nigerians from the UK.
In her submission, Orji debated her matter as follows: “There are two million registered Nigerians who are citizens of the United Kingdom. We need to find out if these 29,000 people to be deported are part of the two million registered Nigerians living in the United Kingdom.
“It’s possible that many of the people are not even Nigerians. They could have been other African nationals who went to the United Kingdom through Nigeria and are being seen as Nigerians based on their point of origin.”
“We now have to look at section 19 of the constitution which deals with foreign policy initiative and focus on seeing how we can resolve this matter diplomatically or reciprocate this unfriendly and malicious legislation targeted at Nigerians in the United Kingdom”.
Responding to Orji’s submissions, minority leader of the House, Hon Leo Ogor (Delta/PDP) in his contribution, urged the House to thread with caution so as not to escalate a brewing diplomatic row between both countries.
Ogor: “My colleagues, having listened to this presentation and I am convinced that this is one motion that requires utmost caution. It also requires that we engage in a serious high level consultation and negotiation to get the full detail of what is going on.”
“And I believe that this is the time the committee should move into action to liaise with the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the British High Commission with a view to working out ways of salvaging the situation.”
“Having 29,000 fully established people striped of their livelihood, belongings and removed from their comfort zones and dumped on another society is quite a dangerous development and I urge us to get the details and negotiate a way out”.
The House resolved by calling on the government of the United Kingdom to stay action on the deportation pending further consultation with the government of Nigeria.
Further actions on the matter was referred to the House committee on Diaspora and Foreign Affairs.
-Emmanuel Ikechukwu
