20% Of Nigerians In Thailand Are In Jail; Serving Various Jail Terms

via PUNCH:

One out of every five Nigerians living in Thailand is
serving a jail term for drug related offences, Nigerian
Ambassador to Thailand, Ambassador Chudi Okafor, has
said.

Okafor in an interview with PUNCH on Tuesday [Nov. 26]
said out of the 2000 Nigerians living in Thailand, 400 are
serving various jail terms.

To stem the tide, the envoy said the Nigerian mission in
Thailand had employed different strategies, including
town hall meetings and prison visitations, to give

Nigerians proper orientation on living in their host
country.

He said there was a need for more efforts to be made by
parents to deter their children and wards from travelling
to Asia in general without any genuine mission.

Okafor said:

There are more responsible Nigerians who respect the
rules and regulations of this beautiful country but what
we are also saying is that from home, these Nigerians
are not from the moon. They are from our parents; they
are from our villages. They are from our towns; they are
from our states.

What it means is that we should show more concern.
We should show more interest right from our villages in
Nigeria. We should be able to sensitise our people. You
don’t just go abroad for the sake of going abroad. At
the end of the day you find yourself being shamed, all
in the name of going to prison.

We are reasoning together with them and saying, ‘yes,
we have challenges and difficulties in Nigeria but there
is no place like home.’ The time has come for our
parents and relatives at home to begin to ask questions.

What are you going to do? Asia is not one of the
regions in the world where jobs are lying on the streets
as it used to in parts of America and Europe.

The envoy also disclosed that the mission had been able
to secure an agreement that allowed Nigerians serving jail
terms to be released at a point so that they could go and
complete their terms in the country.

No Place like Home