By Pascal Ibe

Claim

A Facebook page known as Progressive Nigeria Politics has claimed that people seen in a viral video traveling through the Sahara desert are Nigerians heading to Europe in search for greener pastures.

Verdict

This is UNPROVEN as there were no recent reports by reputable news organizations anywhere.

Also, in a report published by Alarm Phone Sahara(APS) around 2022, a similar vide, showed where many Nigeriens and other West African migrants who were deported and expelled by Algerian authorities are heading back to a Niger Republic border, Assamaka.

Full Story

A Facebook page known as Progressive Nigeria Politics on Tuesday claimed that many people in a viral video travelling through the Sahara desert are Nigerians.

The post with the attached to viral video stated, ”Jakpa some Nigerians seen traveling through the desert for greener pastures.

Many Facebook users who commented on this post expressed sadness and blamed the Nigerian government.

Checks by thefactwatch indicated that this post has circulated on many social media pages as Wednesday evening.

Verification

First , we search thoroughly on Google to see if there’s any recent report or news on Nigerians traveling through the Sahara desert to europe, but no reputable or known news organizations reported such incident anywhere.

However, when thefactwatch did a Google image reverse search, we saw a similar video where migrants deported by Algerian authorities are traveling through the desert to a border in Niger Republic called Assamaka.

Citing Alarm Phone Sahara(APS) a group with primary function of providing migrants and people considering migration with reliable information about the risks of desert travel on March 10 2022, reported that at least 25396 people were deported from Algeria to Niger in miserable and sometimes even deadly conditions.

According to the report, the year 2022 started again with large-scale deportation convoys, accompanied by systematic violations of the rights and dignity of the people concerned.

Whistleblowers of Alarme Phone Sahara in Assamaka on the Algerian-Nigerian border have counted the arrival of at least 3376 deportees since the beginning of 2022 until 8th of March.

In addition to the Algerian state, Libyan authorities have also started to deport large groups of people to their neighbouring country, Niger.

According to Alarme Phone Sahara whistleblowers in Assamaka, unofficial deportation convoys from Algeria arrived on 23rd of January, 7th of February and 8th of March 2022.

On 23rd of January 2022, 754 deportees, among them 3 women and 3 minor boys, arrived in Assamaka on foot. Also this time, the largest groups of deportees were 219 Malians and 244 Guineans. Among them were 97 nationals from Sudan, 21 from Senegal, 31 from Burkina Faso, 32 from Ivory Coast, 18 from Sierra Leone, 17 from Cameroon, 20 from Benin, 13 from the Gambia, 17 from Nigeria, 8 from Chad, 3 from Niger itself, 3 from Ethiopia, 2 from Liberia, 4 from Central African Republic, 4 from Eritrea and one Syrian among the deportees.

On 7th of February, it was even 1269 people, among them 4 women and a minor girl. Again, the largest groups were 427 nationals from Guinea Conakry and 424 from Mali. In addition there were 119 nationals from Burkina Faso, 39 from Nigeria, 46 from Sudan, 28 from the Gambia, 30 from Benin, 29 from Senegal, 27 from Sierra Leone, 2 from Guinea Bissau, 7 from Cameroon, 5 from Liberia, 11 from Chad, 2 from Togo, one person from Niger and one from the Central African Republic

On 8th of March, it was another group of 810 people, among them 15 women, 3 minor girls and one minor boy. The deportees were 328 nationals from Guinea Conakry, 274 from Mali, 43 from Burkina Faso, 45 from Ivory Coast, 26 from Benin, 21 from Sierra Leone, 20 from Nigeria, 16 from Senegal, 13 from the Gambia, 4 from Liberia, 3 from Togo, 3 from Ghana, 2 from Chad, one woman from Cameroon, one man from Sudan and one from Niger.

See the similar video of migrants here 👇

Conclusion

The claim that the people in the viral video travelling through the Sahara desert are Nigerians heading to Europe for greener pastures is UNPROVEN as there’s no recent reports anywhere to it.

Please note that thefactwatch is a verification platform owned by CrimeFacts news