A ship conveying Nigerian deportees from Spain has disappeared for two weeks, without trace of the vessel, Primaguet, or the people on board, an unknown number who might have been illegal immigrants.
The Spanish government, which hired the ship, notified Abuja of its loss on September 19 and sought the assistance of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) on locating both the ship and the identities of the passengers.
TheNiche learnt that a day after the incident, the NIS was contacted by Spain to determine if the ship disappeared in Nigerian waters.
A letter seeking the assistance was channelled to the NIS assistant comptroller general in charge of Zone A, Lagos.
There was no trace of the vessel at the Nigerian end.
However, the Spanish embassy in Abuja denied the report.
The embassy’s deputy head of mission argued that if there was any need to deport Nigerians, they would be transported by air since there is a direct flight from Spain to Nigeria.
“The information you seek is not correct. Nothing like that happened,” he maintained.
But our source countered that the denial could be connected with the fear that since the vessel cannot be traced, the Spanish authorities probably assume that the Nigerians on board died and so they want to play safe by keeping the information to themselves.
“There must be a cover up because they are assuming that the Nigerians have been killed”, the source explained.
He said maybe Spain regarded those on board as illegal immigrants who revolted half way through the journey because they did not want to return to Nigeria.
“In the process, the captain of the ship could have been overpowered and the immigrants cut off the communication, making it impossible for the ship to make contact with the port of departure.
“And the vessel might suddenly run out of fuel in that situation or food supply was lacking or any other life-threatening scenario could have happened on the high seas, and since there was no communication, it would be difficult to locate the vessel,” he added.
An official of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), who declined to disclose his name, told TheNiche that the information had not got to their table.
House of Representatives Diaspora Committee Chairman, Abike Dabiri, could not be reached at press time.
