The Federal Government of Nigeria has frowned at the “hasty” burial of 26 Nigerian women who were found dead on the Mediterranean, brought in a Spanish warship to Italian authorities, nine days before the pre-informed date.
The Federal Government was widely criticized, over the weekend, after the dead Nigerians were buried with no government official in attendance.
However, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri Erewa has come out to say the Italian Embassy had earlier informed the Director General, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) that the burial would be held in Salerno, Italy on November 26, 2017.
While also adding that a protest letter has been sent to the Italian envoy in Nigeria over the turn of events.
“Why were they (the bodies) hurriedly buried nine days before the date communicated to the DG, NAPTIP by the Italian Embassy without any information to Nigerian Government? Why the rush to bury the bodies without carrying out post-mortem to determine the causes of death?”
The 26 Nigerians were buried on November 17 with an interfaith funeral at the cemetery of Salerno, Southern Italy.
The Italian authorities identified only two of the victims, Marian Shaka, a Muslim and Osato Osara, a Christian. Prosecutors are reportedly working to contact relatives of the victims using phone numbers hidden in their clothes.
Post mortem showed that all but one drowned. The other had internal bleeding from a ruptured liver as a result of blunt trauma before falling into the water. It also revealed that none bore any sign of physical or sexual abuse.
Meanwhile, with Federal Government’s complaints of hastiness by the Italian authorities, some Nigerians are concerned about the level of commitment by the Nigerian government in keeping to date on the matter.
Some have opined that, the FG did not do enough to ensure the victims were identified and possibly returned to their respective families which may have made the Italian authorities commence burial upon completion of the post mortem.
Since 2014, more than 1,250 persons have been buried without names and identification across 70 sites in Turkey, Greece and Italy.
Often times they were buried without notifying their countries of origin or their families.
There have been increasing concerns in Europe on the availability of burial space owing to the large influx of migrants who end up dead upon arrival.
However, despite Italian “legislative wall,” which reduces the rights of migrants and speed up the deportation process, Italy’s new immigration bill comes with immigration detention and forced returns. However it gives guarantee for asylum seekers.
Earlier this year, Italy called for mass deportation of illegal migrants, owing to the spate of illegal migration which has in turn increased the crime rate.
As of January 1, 2017, there were 5,047,028 foreign nationals resident in Italy, amounting to 8.2% of Italy’s population.
