FG paying little attention to citizens detained abroad – UNID

United Nigerians in the Diaspora (UNID), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), says the Federal Government and the National Assembly are yet to pay sufficient attention to Nigerians facing prison sentences abroad.

UNID’s reaction is predicated on the fact that many Nigerians are placed on the death row in some South-East Asian countries, particularly Indonesia.

The group’s concern is heightened by the United Nations’ (UN) preparation for the periodic review of the global illicit drug policy in 2016.

Paschal Okoli, UNID president, says the situation portrays poor diplomatic overtures on the part of the Federal Government as well as nonchalant attitude of Nigerian missions in the South-East Asian countries.

The silence by the National Assembly has also led to the recent killing of Nigerians in Indonesia, he says, while also condemning the unwholesome venture of Nigerians, especially youths, in global drug trafficking.

“As we speak, a Nigerian recently lost his manhood in Indonesia, for having the guts to befriend an Indonesian lady, under the cover of being a drug trafficker,” Okoli says, in a statement release on Monday in Lagos.

“Most prospering Nigerians homes in Indonesia and Malaysia are daily raided on set-up charges by the local police and citizens without the embassies intervening.

“The Federal Government must raise its voice in the global campaign against drug trafficking, production, use and against the killing of drug offenders, especially Nigerians in some Asian countries,’’ he says, adding that the government’s ‘quarantine approach’ to the plight Nigerians in some Asian countries leads to the placement of more of them on the death row in Indonesia.

ODINAKA ANUDU