Maltreatment of Nigerians on foreign lands has been a phenomenon of discomfort which citizens of the Country have been suffering from the nationales of other nations across the world. Maltreatment by authorities of foreign nations have seen Nigerians suffering embarrassing harassment under unfriendly conditions.
The reported maltreatment of some Nigerians by Togolese security officials at the Gnassingbé Eyadéma International Airport, was another recent development. It was reported that following the ill treatment, the Federal Government on Saturday (18th December, 2021) made arrangements for their evacuation into Nigeria. The maltreatment which was witnessed in a trending video had shown one of the victims being manhandled by about six security officials at the airport. He was subsequently handcuffed and taken away by the aggressive Togolese officials. According to report, the Nigerians who were travelling on Ethiopian Airlines from the United States of America to Lagos, got to Lome and were told that their connecting flight was full and that they could not continue the trip. It was reported that upon some of them trying to protest the decision, they were manhandled and handcuffed by the Togolese security personnel and airline staff, just as their telephones were also allegedly confiscated. The Federal Government on its reaction had issued a directive to the Nigerian Ambassador to Togo, Mr Debo Adesina, to secure a charter aircraft for their evacuation to Lagos. The evacuation was reportedly overseen by the high commissioner.
It is noteworthy that this event joins many others which have been on the toll of the rough treatments of Nigerians by foreign authorities. It is well known in the parlance of diplomatic relations that an attack on a Country’s nationale is an attack on the nation in question. Argument has been raised on whether the Nigerian Government understands the fact or not. Spates of attacks on Nigerians even among Countries on the African continent, and much more troubling, close neighbours who have benefited from Nigeria’s big brother interventions have been on the roll of merciless assaults. Bellicose actions of xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa have only seen several Nigerians been repatriated back home under uncomfortable conditions. A rising toll of similar assaults have been taking course in Ghana, even to the frame of an embarrassIng attack on the Nigerian Mission in Accra in 2020. On the 7th of August, 2021, an assault on a senior Nigerian diplomat, Mr Abdulrahman Ibrahim, by immigration officers in Jakarta, Indonesia, had attracted wild reaction.
While some have linked the phenomenon of harsh treatment to indiscipline on the part of Nigerians with the trenches of dishonesty, fraudulent and massive records of civil disobedience and culture of lawlessness, it is believed from some quarters that the Government is to be blamed for its laxity over high profile maltreatments which have attracted little or no stern reaction from the Government. Those who believe not all Nigerians can be tagged to be indiscipline, fraudulent and unlawful, have tolled this line of thought with arguments centred on criticisms on the Government’s approach to foreign and diplomatic relations. In this light, knocks have been heavy on the Government for what is believed to be its docile culture with tardy and weak responses to these treatments which have become unending over time. Those who believe the Government has not learnt the measures of application of sticks as deterrents for ill treatments of Nigerians abroad have taken wipe on the Government. This is just as harsh notations of linking the docility to the absence of the cord of nationhood by the Government to protect its citizens with all sense of responsibility have been given some breath of thought. To those in this line of thought, the absence of a bond from the Government with a cord of responsibility as a mandate to protect its citizens has been an underlying factor informing the insensitivity.
While it is inarguable that the Government might have been irresponsive in its reaction to the maltreatment of Nigerians across nations of the world, the argument linking such maltreatment to the profile of lawlessness and indiscipline of Nigerians may not be overruled. Hence, it can be submitted that the factors responsible for the abysmal phenomenon are in clusters and deep seated. On the part of the Government, it behooves it to shift towards the edge of responsiveness to protecting its citizens without any sense of laxity. While cases of faultlines may not be absolutely ruled out, the various obvious cases of taking advantage of the Government’s inertia to matters relating to the treatment of Nigerians in foreign lands have left open an orientation that Nigerians can be manhandled without any strong reactions from their government.
It’s high time the Government awoke to the realities of the firm culture of the right application of foreign diplomatic tools to change the narratives. This is just as it behooves Nigerians to imbibe the enlightened culture of discipline and complete responsiveness to obligations of lawful conducts to save themselves of harassment and protect the image of the nation they represent.