The Government of Austria says it has completed the process of organising
skills acquisition programmes for no fewer than 1000 Nigerian irregular
migrants in Austria before their repatriation.
The country’s Director-General, International Centre for Migration Policy
Development (ICMPD), Michael Spindelegger, made this known on Thursday in Abuja
at a meeting with the Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeam.
Spindelegger said that ICMPD, with its headquarters in Austria, would
start the programme with Nigeria as a pilot case before extending to others.
He said that the programme was to prepare the migrants for gainful employment
which some Austrian companies were to set up later in Nigeria.
The centre director-general said that the proposed programme would
facilitate reversed migration of the irregular migrants, who had no likelihood
of being given legal residents in Austria.
“It is a new idea of how to combine future investment in Nigeria with the
return of irregular migrants.
“A lot of companies are interested in investing in Nigeria because of its
market.
‘“The idea is to train these irregular migrants before repatriating them
so that when they come back, they will have something to do instead of becoming
liabilities.
“The idea is also to encourage more Austrian companies to come and invest
in Nigeria so that they also can contribute to solving the problem of
unemployment and irregular migration,” he said.
According to him, there is provision for asylum in Europe, but in a
situation where an emigrant fails to secure asylum, the person will be deported
at the long run.
“For them, there is no chance of remaining in the country, because once
they are picked, they will not be allowed to take anything, but would be
brought back to their country empty.
“There are no fewer than 1,000 Nigerians that are not granted refugees
status living in Austria.
“The programme is starting with Nigeria as a pilot, then, we will see
what the experience is before extending it to other countries,” he said.
Spindelegger said, “though, only few Austrian companies are currently in
Nigeria, efforts are being made to convince companies involved in the programme
to come and invest in Nigeria.
“It is also part of the programme. They can get benefits from the
European Union for the investment, which serves as more business security for
them,” he said.
In his remarks, Onyeama said that the initiative would not only have
Nigerians coming back home to contribute to national development, but also
stood to benefit from foreign investors.
“It can be companies in Austria that are interested in investing in any
sector of Nigerian economy.
“They will be selecting from Nigerian irregular migrants in Austria,
train them and send them down to work with their companies in Nigeria,” he
said.
The minister, however, dismissed the fears of likely ploy to deport
Nigerians in the country through the process.
“Remember that those Nigerians are in that country illegally, and do not
have any prospect of regularising their stay. As such, they would be deported
in any case.
“So, instead of being deported with the shame that comes with it, they
would be given training and guaranteed employment with the companies that would
be coming to invest in Nigeria,” he said.
Onyeama said that the present administration had already put in place
mechanism to address irregular migration and promote the concept of reverse
migration.
He said Nigeria was in full support of the scheme and would ensure its
success, adding that government had made huge investment on social intervention
programmes and was having such similar scheme partnership with Germany.
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