The
Nigeria and Italy governments are to ensure that some 25,000 Nigerians
living illegally in Italy are returned home. This was part of the
agenda of the closed door meeting between the Nigerian Foreign
minister, Chief Ojo Maduekwe and his Italian counterpart, Dr. Franco
Frattini, in Abuja.
[africanews.com] Briefing
the media after the meeting, Chief Ojo Maduekwe said the Nigerian
government will do everything necessary to have the illegal aliens
return home even as he told his guest to always accord the concerned
Nigerians their human rights.
"As part of the Citizen Diplomacy of this government, we still want our
people to be respected wherever they may be even as we do not encourage
any Nigerian to travel to any country illegally, but in the case of
Italy, we are also proud to reveal that more than 40,000 Nigerians are
living there legitimately", Chief Maduekwe said.
The meeting which was a follow up to an earlier one by Chief Maduekwe
and a delegation from Italy in New York at the 63rd Session of the
United Nations General Assembly in 2008 also looked into economic and
trade relations between the two countries.
The Italian envoy said that his country is ready to maintain the trade
relationship with Nigeria especially in the areas of leather and
leather works, timber, rubber and cocoa.
“I’m optimistic that Nigeria will continue to patronize us in the
purchase of motor vehicles, agricultural equipment, electrical parts,
aircraft spare parts, telecommunication equipments as well as chemical
and pharmaceutical products", Dr. Frattini said.
Nigeria is Italy’s second largest trade partner in Africa, in 2003, the
volume of trade between the two countries was put at about 1.115
billion Euros. In 2004, Italy exported goods worth 486.3 million Euros
to Nigeria while she imported goods worth 337.8million Euros from
Nigeria.
Other areas of discussion included the Investment Promotion and
Protection Agreement (IPPA) which is designed to encourage and attract
Italian foreign investors to Nigeria; the Bilateral Air Services
Agreement (BASA) and the Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement.
Finally, the two diplomats deliberated on the 2004 Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) signed to combat the illicit act of women
trafficking and they both admitted that a major improvement has been
recorded as they keep their pledged to maintain the tempo until the act
was abandoned by the perpetrators.
Kinsley Kobo, AfricaNews reporter in Abidjan, Ivory Coast
Source: http://www.africanews.com/site/25000_illegal_Nigerians_to_leave_Italy/list_messages/23278
