An average of 83 Nigerians crossed illegally from Nigeria to Europe, daily, via the Mediterranean in the first nine months of 2016, data by the European Union shows.
The daily figure was extrapolated from the 22,500 illegal Nigerian migrants that the EU said crossed the Mediterranean Sea to Europe between January and September this year.
This figure in the first 9 months of 2016 is against the 23,000 who crossed in the whole of 2015.
The Deputy Head of EU Delegation in Nigeria, Richard Young, made this disclosure on Thursday at a media workshop in Abuja.
Mr. Young expressed concern that the number of Nigerians taking dangerous adventure through Mediterranean to Europe within nine months in 2016 was higher than those who did same throughout 2015.
According to him, there has been huge increase in migrants crossing border without the right travel document to Europe from all over the world.
“In 2014, the number of people traveling irregularly into Europe clinched 280,000 people; in 2015 it rose to 1.8 million in 2015.
“From January to September 2016, the number is about 420,000; we are expecting that the number will rise to 800,000 before the end of the year.
Source: PremiumTimes
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