May 8, 2018

Lucy George, a former principal quality adviser to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, has urged the Federal Government to remian focussed in building the nation’s economy.

George, who gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday, also called on Nigerians to support government in realising the task.

According to her, such effort will stem the tide of young Nigerians seeking greener pasture in foreign countries and the attendant overwhelming number of Nigerians being deported back to Nigeria.

The former principal adviser, who expressed sadness over a development whereby countries consistently saw the need to deport Nigerians, stressed the need to learn from the experiences of the deportees.

He said that such learning experience would form the basis upon which realistic solution would be based in solving the problem.

“It is shameful that we turn on the news and hear about a country working on restricting Nigerians or deporting them from their countries.

“In 2017, an overwhelming number of 16,387 Nigerians were reported to have been deported from various countries.

“This year, we have had countries like South Africa, Germany, Australia and Gabon work on deporting Nigerians for breaking immigration laws.

“Now, a country like Canada, known to be lenient on immigration, is requesting the American government to help them restrict the number of Nigerians that make way to Canada illegally through US soil.

“This is highly embarrassing for us because we are no longer being seen as the great African country, but as the country that just leaches to the success of other nations.

“The citizens of the countries that we are running to had taken their time to build their countries through hard work and dedication.

She said those running to other countries to make ends meet would benefit more if they stayed in the c