Except something providential happens, over 12,000 Nigerians seeking asylum in Germany risk being deported next year.Germany’s Global Head of Programmes, Migration and Development, Dr. Ralf Sanftenberg, dropped the hint yesterday during a courtesy call on the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa in Abuja.
Sanftenberg, who led a delegation from Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, was on a site assessment mission for assisted-voluntary returnees of Nigeria’s irregular migrants in his country.
The mission is saddled with the responsibility of coordinating the Centre for International Migration and Development (CIM), which offers returnees support service and knowledge transfer.
“We have over 37,000 Nigerians in Germany and more than 12,000 of them are asylum seekers. There is a little chance for their applications to be moved and they may be forced to come back to Nigeria next year,” he stated.
