OVER 500 Nigerians have voluntarily returned to the country from Switzerland over the last year following the introduction of a Voluntary Return and Reintegration Programme (VRRP) aimed at ridding the country of foreigners.
Keen to limit population growth through migration, Switzerland introduced the VRRP scheme aimed at reducing the number of immigrants in the country. According to the Swiss Federal Office of Migration (Fom), a total of 544 Nigerian nationals returned home last year under the programme.
According to a Fom spokesman who recently attended the fifth meeting of the technical committee of the Swiss-Nigerian Migration Partnership in Abuja, Nigeria was the third main country of origin for Swiss asylum seekers in 2013 with 1,764 asylum applications. He added that in 2012 Fom supervised the departure of 441 Nigerians from Switzerland.
“The number of asylum applications from Nigerian nationals fell by 35.8% in 2013 compared to the previous year,’’ he added.
Nigeria’s delegation to the meeting was led by Ambassador Abdulaziz Dankano, the under-secretary in charge of the economy and consular affair in the foreign ministry. Ambassador Dankano expressed satisfaction with the progress made so far since the last meeting of the Nigerian-Swiss Migration Partnership in June 2013 in Berne.
He added: “We have noticed a lot of improvement. A lot of records have been set and a lot of achievements recorded under this partnership.’’
According to Ambassador Dankano, these achievements had led to an increase in the number of voluntary returnees from Switzerland in a dignified manner. He added that the returnees would have something to fall back on upon their return to Nigeria, pointing out that the country was committed to reducing the irregular migration of its nationals to Switzerland through the existing agreement.
- See more at: http://www.nigerianwatch.com/news/4181-switzerland-deported-544-nigerians-voluntarilyq-last-year-under-repatriation-pact#sthash.Ct7BqYNL.dpuf
No comments :
Post a Comment