After an accord with Turkey practically shut down the Aegean route, the EU is eying a raft of deals with African nations to stem an increasing surge across the Central Mediterranean that has led to a record number of migrant deaths at sea.

Following recent visits by the Italian and German foreign ministers, the EU dispatched a delegation this week to the Nigerian capital, Abuja. The reason for the flurry of high-level meetings is no secret.

Nigerians represent the top nationality of migrants arriving by boat to Italy this year. Out of 157,000 migrants and refugees who have arrived so far in 2016, 19 percent were Nigerian, according to the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR.

Nigeria is one of five African nations the EU has prioritised as part of its Partnership Framework with third countries, launched in June – the other four being Ethiopia, Niger, Mali, and Senegal.

"I didn’t want to leave, but there are so many bad guys now in Nigeria, I had no choice. I did what I had to do to survive."

The EU officials were in Abuja this week to formally kick off negotiations with the Nigerian government on an agreement that would allow Italy and other EU member states to return Nigerian migrants not found eligible for asylum.

A progress report on the Partnership Framework released on 18 October notes that “stepping up cooperation [with Nigeria] should be a particular focus of the coming weeks”, with the main goal being “a swift conclusion” on a readmission agreement. 

Nigerians attempting to reach Europe by boat are widely perceived to be economic migrants, and yet, in the absence of a formal agreement, EU member states have struggled to return them.

Diplomats and officials quoted in a Financial Times report said directing private European money to Nigerian infrastructure projects was one EU priority but also mentioned more controversial “return and readmission” goals of 50 percent over the next three to six months and 75 percent by 2018-2019.

Problems back home

Hosting Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, Chancellor Angela Merkel pointed out at a joint Berlin press conference on 14 October that while most Syrians in Germany came from a war zone and were granted asylum, the approval rate for Nigerians was only eight percent. “We presume that most of them came for economic reasons,” she added.

The Boko Haram conflict in northern Nigeria has displaced millions internally and regionally but poverty is seen as the main driver of migration to Europe, although the violence and political turmoil often play a factor too.

This week, on board a rescue vessel operated by SOS Méditerranée in partnership with Médecins Sans Frontières, IRIN found that 84 out of the 521 rescued migrants were Nigerian. They gave an array of different reasons for being there, ranging from unsubstantiated claims of religious and political persecution to fears over deteriorating security and soaring crime.

“I was doing well in Nigeria, working as a hair stylist and I earned enough money for my family,” said 27-year-old Maxwell. “But after my brother and my mother were killed, it became too dangerous for me to stay.” 

Maxwell said his brother – a taxi driver – was killed after witnessing a crime and being pressured into giving a police statement that led to the incarceration of a criminal gang leader. “The gang threatened my brother and then one day came to the house and shot him dead in front of me,” Maxwell told IRIN. “Then they came after me. Even though we moved house, they found us and killed my mother, and I couldn’t stay in Nigeria after that. This gang had killed all my family and I knew they still wanted to kill me; so I took all the money I had and made the journey to Libya.”