Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama

If Nigerians living in Malta are repatriated they will surely suffer and face a life of uncertainty, according to the Archbishop of Jos, a city in central Nigeria.

“Asking them to go back is like throwing them from the frying pan into the fire. The situation in my country has not changed so they will surely suffer more when they return,” Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama said in an interview with Times of Malta.

In April, the governments of Malta and Nigeria signed an agreement for the repatriation of Nigerian migrants who arrive in Malta irregularly. The agreement was signed following a meeting between Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan.

When the agreement was signed, there were 155 Nigerians awaiting repatriation.

Although the authorities said the agreement included safeguards for the human rights of the migrants, Archbishop Kaigama believes that the migrants are better off here.

“Nobody will be throwing them out of Nigeria but they won’t feel comfortable,” he said as he called on the Maltese government to seek an agreement with his country’s government to ensure real respect and dignity for those who are repatriated.

Archbishop Kaigama is in Malta for a conference on religious freedoms organised by the Aid to the Church in Need Foundation. The conference was about the persecution of Christians around the world, particularly in Nigeria, Syria, Egypt and surrounding countries.

It is like throwing them from the frying pan into the fire

According to the Archbishop, there is lack of awareness in the West of the persecution that Christians face on a daily basis in the East.

He believes that inter-religious dialogue would be instrumental in putting an end to persecution suffered by many Christians around the world.

While the differences between various religious groups were “artificial”, there were several common values on which mutual cooperation could be based, he said.

“The differences are artificially created because every religion is seeking happiness on earth and happiness in another world. But there are so many values on which we could work together, such as respect for life, honesty and faithfulness in all that we do. The message we should get across is: let us look at things we can do together to live in a better place, for us and for our people,” he said.

According to a study conducted by the foundation recently, Christians are on the receiving end of 80 per cent of religious persecution around the world.

Archbishop Kaigama described as “awful” the situation in Nigeria and the recent abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls by Nigeria’s militant Islamist group Boko Haram.

“What started as a purely religious conflict has now grown into a free-for-all. At first, churches were destroyed and Christians killed but now even Muslims are being killed. It has lost focus,” he said.

He said that Nigeria had very few rich people and millions who were poor because of the lack of knowledge of how to distribute the country’s wealth fairly.