Nigeria protests "sudden" burial of 26 teenage girls drowned in Mediterranean Sea

21 Novembre 2017

Abuja, Nigeria, November 21 (Infosplusgabon) - The Federal Government of Nigeria on Monday expressed “surprise and shock” over the sudden burial of 26 African girls drowned in the Mediterranean Sea by Italian authorities nine days ahead of the slated date.

Presidential Assistant on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Mrs  Abike Dabiri-Erewa and representative of NAPTIP, Mr Abdulrahim Shaibu, said at a joint news conference in Abuja that the Italian Embassy earlier indicated to the Director General, Nigeria’s National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) (DG NAPTIP) that the burial would take place in Salerno, Italy on 26 Nov. 2017. But the burial took place on 17 November.

A statement issued by Mrs Dabiri–Erewa, said that a letter to that effect had been sent to the Italian envoy in Nigeria.

“Why were they hurriedly buried nine days before the date communicated to the DG NAPTIP by the Italian Embassy without any information to Nigerian Government?” it queried.

The Director General of NAPTIP is currently in Italy to engage with the Italian authorities as they prepared for the burial on the Nov. 26.

“On the issue of Africans sold by Africans in Libya to Europe, Nigerian officials have said, "this is totally unacceptable, despicable, and inhumane and should be condemned by anyone who is human and has blood running through their veins."

They appealed to the African Union, European Union, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, International Organization for Migration and the Economic Community for West African States, to intervene in the matter and tackle the issue of slavery happening in Libya and also mete out sanctions to the perpetrators of such heinous crime.

FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/KJH/ GABON 2017

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