Emeka Ezeugwu
11 February 2002
opinion
Mali — I expected to see some Nigerians who are based in Mali. I knew that Nigerians are everywhere and could survive under any condition. But I least expected the number that I have seen so far with most of them engaging in menial jobs and prostitution to keep body and soul alive. It made me wonder why any Nigerian should leave the land of 'plentiful' to be here surviving on dried bread and rice that is only good for pounding. I discovered the reason later when some of them told their accounts.
Pius, barely 26 years old from Edo State, dropped out of Ambrose Ali University in his second year and absconded to Libya against the advice of his weeping mother. Life in Libya seemed okay because he secured a job in a telephone company and was paid well. But Europe, not Libya, was his destination. So, after a while in Muoumar Khadafi's country, Pius moved over to Morocco. He was holed up in Magaya unable to penetrate the capital, Rabat. An attempt to beat the eagle eye of security men into Rabat gave him away. He was promptly anabbed because he had no valid papers. Not wanting to be deported to Nigeria, he told the Moroccan security agents that he was a Malian. Pius was ferried down to Bamako where he has been marooned. "It was then the Mother's weeping and begging for me not to leave dawned on me. She saw it ahead and didn't want me to go. But I thought I could make it to Europe," he said regretfully.
For a year, he has been communicating with his people through e-mail but he never told them that he now lives in Bamako 'because I will still go back to either Libya or Morocco after I have made some money here." He has a barbing salon but Pius, who lives in Bamako with a Sierra Leonian identity card looks unkempt and does not barb his hair so as to perfectly look like a Malian. "It is Nigerians who like to look neat. Besides, once they find out that you are a Nigerian, they won't associate with you and the Gendarmes will be trailing you everywhere," he added. Pius speaks both French and the local language - Bambara - fluently. He would not be persuaded to return to Nigeria or to school because 'I won't be able to stand the shame after dropping out of school. I am a hustler. I know that I will make it. It is a matter of time before I leave again from here.'
He said, on the average, ten Nigerian girls were daily being dumped in Bamako here after being deceived that they were being taken to Europe. "And to survive, they take to prostitution. While some find their ways back to Nigeria, others move on from here depending on their luck," he added. Pius also plays football with a local team runs in Bamako with the intention to depart Mali as a footballer.
Ogbeide is also a Nigerian marooned in Bamako after junketing through Mozambique, Senegal, and Equatorial Guinea. He has a barbing salon and a restaurant owned by a Nigerian woman. Ogbeide speaks French fluently too and assists visiting Nigerians to communicate with Malians. Though, life is terribly difficult for them in Bamako, he has no intention of returning to Nigeria because he still has plans to move on to Europe through any of the boarder countries.
Surprisingly, both Ogbeide and Pius do not belong to a union of Nigerians in Bamako. "Rather than helping you, they will expose you to the Gendarmes," Pius had said.
Patience, a Nigerian lady who has no visible means of livelihood here would not be drawn into any interview. "Please I don't want trouble!" she warned as she puffed away on her cigarette with a bottle of Castel beer on her table just by Ogbeide's salon.
As I left for my hotel, I could not help wondering how many Ogbeides and Piuses are here after failed dreams to move to Europe.(ACONS)
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