Investigative journalist Fisayo Soyombo has spent 47 days undercover travelling the Sahara migration route, posing as a migrant to document what happens to Africans attempting to reach Europe through Niger and Libya. His journey took him from Kano in Nigeria through Magaria, Zinder, Agadez and Dirkou in Niger, then through Al Gatrun and Sabha to Tripoli in Libya.
What makes the investigation unusual is not simply the distance travelled. Soyombo did not report on the migration route from a safe distance. He entered it as one of the people making the journey, experiencing the uncertainty, overcrowded vehicles, desert crossings and dependence on traffickers firsthand.
He had initially been told to budget around 30 days.He spent 47.The Sahara route is often discussed in Nigeria through a single word: japa. But Soyombo's investigation complicates that shorthand. What can look from a distance like a straightforward journey towards a better life is, on the ground, a chain of vulnerability in which migrants can lose money, freedom, safety and sometimes their lives.
In his three-part investigation, Soyombo documented and reported accounts of starvation, thirst, robbery, physical assault, abduction, sexual violence, forced labour and conditions he described as modern-day slavery along the route.
Soyombo said migrants he met told him they would not have undertaken the journey had they known beforehand how severe the suffering would be. He also argued that many people believe any destination outside Nigeria must offer a better option, only to discover that the conditions awaiting them in Libya can be worse than the economic hardship they left behind.
What happens when the dream travels faster than the truth?
The most striking thing about Soyombo's project may therefore not be that he crossed the desert.
It is that he deliberately entered a world where many people make life-changing decisions without possessing a complete picture of what awaits them.
He spent six months preparing for the investigation. He was warned there was a possibility of abduction. He still could not predict how the journey would unfold.
If you knew the full price before beginning the journey, would you still call it an opportunity?
This desperation can make a dangerous road look like the only road left, then perhaps the real question is not simply why are they leaving? — but what has made staying feel impossible?
Soyombo returned with photographs, videos and firsthand testimony from a route many people know mostly through rumour, aspiration and fragmented stories.
The desert was not just something he crossed.He entered the story Nigerians tell themselves about leaving — and came back with what the story leaves out.
Jaiyeorie — this is why it matters.
#JaiyeWhyItMatters
No comments:
Post a Comment