Sir, - In her recent column headed "Taking a hard look at Nigeria" Medb Ruane seemed to be suggesting that all Nigerians who manage to make their way here should be entitled to remain. She deplored the fact that at present fewer than one in 10 such immigrants are allowed to stay and for this she blamed Government ignorance of the cultural and political situation in Nigeria. Ms Ruane goes on to insist that the Government is negligent in having a "one-stop response" to Nigerian applications for asylum.
There are a few facts which your columnist might wish to consider. Nigeria is larger than France and Germany combined and has a population of about 120 million. The rate of growth within that population is among the highest in the world. There is great cultural diversity, with more than 200 ethnic groups each with its own traditions and language. I do agree that a 200stop response would be best, but that is hardly practical.
Much of the case made by Ms Ruane and also by David Blake (April 20th) on behalf of Nigerian immigrants already living here is that these people have had to leave home due to the imposition of Shari'yah law in their particular states. But there are 30 states in all and fewer than half of the population of the country is Muslim. Internal migration may well be the answer and indeed there is a long history of such migration within Nigeria.
For our own country the issue quite simply is numbers. The vast majority of our Nigerian asylum-seekers are economic migrants. Ms Ruane avoids this issue by inviting readers to consider whether they too would like to live in Nigeria. Well, no, I would not, but then there are many other countries where the cultural, economic and political situations would have no great appeal. Even allowing for a shortage of certain skills, we cannot have an open-door policy for everybody who wishes to come here. - Yours, etc.,
Conor O'Brien, Mount Anville Park, Dublin 14.