Worried by what he described as inhuman and barbaric act of slave which has made it possible for black Africans in Libya to be auctioned, Hon. Saheed Akinade-Fijabi has called for thorough investigation of the menace.
A copy of the motion moved at plenary yesterday and made available to insideoyo.com, Akinade-Fijabi, who is representing Ibadan North West/ South West federal constituency in the House of Representatives for the second term, decried the Inhuman treatment, calling for urgent actions.
According to him, “African migrants from nations including Nigeria, Guinea, Senegal, Mali, Niger and Gambia make the dangerous crossing through the Sahara to Libya with hopes of making it over the Mediterranean Sea to Italy and other European countries in search of greener pastures.”
He revealed that “on November 14, 2017, the US Television Network, CNN broke the news of auctioning of human beings in Libya with a live footage of the auction in which young men were sold to North African buyers as potential farmhands; and one of the unidentified young men sold off for as little as $400 (N144,000) in the grainy cell phone video obtained by CNN is a Nigerian in his twenties.
“The footage of the auctioning of Black Africans in the conflict-torn nation sparked outrage across the world with thousands of people taking to the streets of Paris, France to protest against the modern day slavery, and in reaction, the African Union, on November 17,2017 called on the Libyan Authorities to investogate the matter.”
The House has however, urged the Federal Government to liase with the government of Libya to find a solution to the menace of migration and modern day slavery in Libya.
It also mandated committees on human rights and foreign affairs to interface with the ministry of foreign affairs and relevant stakeholders to identify the factors that encourage the migrant to embark on the perilous journey, proffer solutions that would discourage same and then provide for how the Nigerian youths caught in the web would return to the country and report back to the House within four (4) weeks for further legislative action.
