Freddy Roosemont, Director-General of the Officer of Foreigners in Belgium, has warned Nigerians to jettison their dream of greener pastures in the European country, saying life there is not easy.
He said it was tough to live a good life in Belgium without having a decent job.
He said this as Nigerians now leave the country in droves in search of greener pastures due to the bad economic situation bedeviling Nigeria.
Roosemont’s warning came on Friday in a media conference. He warned that living a good life in Europe has become more challenging as many women are forced into prostitution to survive and criminal gangs exploit them for illicit gains.
“First of all, it is important to inform the people correctly, because they often leave with a dream. If I say to the investor, you’re going to win the lottery next week and it’s going to bring you a million Euros and he believes me it will be a dream, is that dream realistic? Not at all.
“So, first of all, you have to take away the dream. The dream is not real. That’s why I’m telling you and I hope that through you, the public is aware that the dream is not real. It’s not easy to survive in Europe, without a decent job.
“The second thing is of course, we have legal migration, but legal migration will not be for 10,000 or for 5,000 people. It will be for a number of people who have gone through a number of conditions.
Somebody who wants to study in Belgium is very welcome.
“But he first has to show to the university that he will be capable of following the studies there in English, that if he’s studying medicine, that he has a sort of basics to study medicine, if he wants to become an engineer. That he has technical knowledge, that he is good in Mathematics and so on. So, it’s the university that is going to select who they let in, not only from Nigeria,” he said.
Nigerians were also warned that coming to Belgium with the intention to seek asylum would not also work, as there are low chances of obtaining a residence permit.
