Nigeria Abroad
Some Nigerian refuges in Germany have between now and the middle of January 2022 to opt for “voluntary return” from the country or risk being forcefully removed, Network Refugees4Refugees has revealed.
The said Nigerians, numbering at least 10, were set to be removed from Germany on Tuesday December 14, but a last-minute cancellation of their chartered flight brought them some relief and they were released from detention.
But their “Christmas present,” the refugee group says in a statement obtained by Nigeria Abroad, was the demand for their voluntary return by the German government. “Failure to do so would mean further criminalization and then a justification for detention until the deportation can be enforced,” the refugee group said.
Nigeria Abroad had reported in March about a similar deportation move made by the German government against Nigerians it said had no permit to stay in the country.
So far in 2021, 7 deportation flights carrying over 200 Nigerians have departed Germany. Just between July and November alone, not less than 110 persons have been violently deported from Germany to Nigeria, according to the refugee network.
“While others have been lucky to have been released from detention, deportation prisons were at the same time being filled up with new people who were randomly arrested either from their workplaces or at an appointment bait by the Alien Office,” it further stated.
