NDIA deported five Nigerians yesterday as part of its ongoing clampdown that has seen as many as 22 people arrested for over-staying in the country and locked up in special immigration centres. Over the last two months, Indian authorities have stepped up the arrest of Nigerian illegal immigrants across the country and has been deporting them. Of late, the relationship between the Nigerian Indian community and their local Indian hosts has soured following the murder of a Nigerian at Parra in northern Goa on October 30. In response, local Nigerians staged several protests, which the authorities responded to with a series of arrests and those found without papers are being deported. Last week, seven Nigerians were deported from India and the second batch of five out of the 20 housed at the Tiruchi special camp situated in the city’s Central Prison have been deported too now. Under tight police escort, they were taken to Chennai on Tuesday and flown to Abu Dhabi on an Etihad Airways flight from where they would fly to Nigeria. Arrested by the Tiruppur police for overstay and brought to the camp in batches in December, the Nigerians protested recently, locking the inner gate with the police and revenue officials inside demanding their early deportation.
In October last year, over 100 Nigerians attacked a police van in Goa, which was carrying the body of their fellow national found stabbed to death in the Mapusa area. His body was being taken for a post-mortem when the mob dragged the body out of the van and formed a blockade at the site demanding the police arrest the culprits. An irate mob of Nigerians, who live in Parra village, also beat up some villagers, alleging that they killed their Nigerian colleague. Goa’s chief minister Manohar Parrikar, said the crime resulted from a feud between gangs of drug dealers and ordered the police to identify and deport all Nigerians who were living in the state illegally. Nigerians spend a total of $500m a year on health trips abroad, with India being the main beneficiary of such health tourism. According to the Nigerian Medical Association, in 2012, India earned realise between $1bn and $2bn from medical tourism. – See more at:
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