The Network for Critical Migration Consciousness (NfCMC) has revealed that the first flight that would convey some Nigerians that are illegally staying in Germany will leave Frankfurt for Lagos today.
The deportation will be the first of its kind in 2021 since the initial plan scheduled for January 18, 2021 was cancelled.
While talking to a delegation of the Nigerian Community at the Nigerian embassy in Berlin last month, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar said the Nigerian government had refused to grant landing permit to any deportation flights pending COVID-19.
The government of Nigeria made that decision following Tuggar’s intervention last December, after he had a 4-hour Zoom meeting with the Nigerian Community in Germany but as things stand, the deportation can no longer be postponed further.
In a statement, the NfCMC advised Nigerians that are not too certain of their residential statuses, or those on Duldung Status (Tolerated/Obligated to Leave Germany), to get in touch with their lawyers or their asylum counseling centers.
“Please take note that police arrest is ongoing based on the German Foreigners Law provision that permits the taking of persons into custody so as to guarantee their availability for a planned deportation enforcement flight,” the NfCMC wrote on its website.
The group made it known that Nigerians under Germany’s Voluntary Return Program (VRP)—who are undergoing courses before they leave voluntarily—may be compelled to volunteer for deportation, as their passports are in the country’s custody.
The group said: “With our experience from the December 10, 2020 deportation enforcement, two young Nigerian males who had trusted the deceptive Voluntary Return Program and were obviously co-operative in the entire process, were unfortunately arrested at midnight prior to the deportation flight schedule and deported brutally to Nigeria empty-handed.”
The group noted that being on the VRP does not mean a suspension of deportation and asked Nigerians in Germany to “spread this information as we stay in solidarity to demand a stop to any act of racist discrimination, deportation and colonial continuity in Germany and Europe.”
