Nigeria has the highest percentage of illegal migrants to Europe, particularly Italy, it has emerged.
Data released by the International Organisation for Migration showed that more than 60,000 migrants arrived in Italy by sea between January 1 and May 31 and Nigerians were the top nationality among them with more than 9,000.
They comprise two-thirds adult men and one-third adult women, with a small percentage of unaccompanied children—landing on Italian shores.
ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/GETTY
Majority of the women were, reportedly, trafficked to Italy as sex workers.
Nigerian women began traveling to Italy in the 1980s to work as fruit pickers, but soon turned to sex work.
An estimated 30,000 have since been trafficked from the country to work as prostitutes in Italy and elsewhere in Europe, The Guardian reported.
Hundreds of migrants daily make the perilous journey, in inflatable boats, across the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy.
0