Senate to probe death of 26 Nigerian women on Spanish warship

macfranc007 November 09, 2017 Nigeria News today & Breaking news ▷ Read Nigerian newspapers 24/7 Jerrywright Ukwu

- The Nigerian Senate has reacted to the reported death of 26 Nigerian girls in the Mediterranean and Sahara desert

- The motion was moved on the floor of the Senate by the chairperson, Senate committee on diaspora, Senator Rose Oko

- The Senate urged the federal government to take necessary steps to avoid the incident reoccurring

The Nigerian Senate has reacted to the reported death of 26 Nigerian girls in the Mediterranean and Sahara desert.

The motion was moved on the floor of the Senate by the chairperson, Senate committee on diaspora, Senator Rose Oko.

Senate begins probe of death of 26 Nigerian women on Spanish warship

The Nigerian Senate always rises to the occasion when needed. Photo credit: Nigerian Senate

Oko is a Peoples Democratic Party senator representing Cross River North Senatorial District in the red chambers.

She lamented over the death of the ladies and urged her colleagues in the Senate to look into the issue.

Contributing to the motion, Senator Shehu Sani (APC, Kaduna Central), says there's a need for inter African synergy with the European Union on cases like this and more.

He opined that these Nigerians have been deceived into believing that they are going in search of greener pasture but end up being s*x workers.

On his part, Senator Sam Egwu (PDP, Ebonyi North), says the federal government needs to come together and put resources to reduce and eliminate unemployment as this is a major cause of illegal immigration.

Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the Senate session, thanked Senator Oko for bringing the motion to the Senate, while stressing that the federal government holds the responsibility to take care of its citizen.

He further urged the government to provide more for its citizens to encourage them to stay in the country.

In the meantime, the Senate has requested its committee on diaspora to commence investigation into the incident and a minute of silence was observed in honour of the deceased girls.

In a related development, the senior special assistant to the president on foreign relations and diaspora, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said the government is already addressing the issue.

Meanwhile, two men, one of them an Egyptian and the other a Libyan, have been arrested and charged in Italy as investigators look into the deaths of 26 Nigerian women and girls, who are suspected to have been murdered while attempting to cross the Mediterranean.

The bodies of the women were brought to the southern Italian port of Salerno by the Spanish ship Cantabria on Sunday, and prosecutors opened an investigation over suspicions that the women, some as young as 14, may have been abused and killed them.

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