By Adeola Badru
IBADAN — International traveller and travel documentarian, McDolly Ogundana, popularly known as The9jaboy, has called on Nigeria, Spain, the European Union and African transit countries to intensify efforts to curb deaths along the Atlantic migration route.
Ogundana said the journey to Europe should not end at sea, warning that desperation, unsafe crossings and migrant smuggling were putting thousands of lives at risk.
He made the call in a statement issued in Ibadan on Wednesday, saying his experience in Tangier, Morocco, where he stood looking towards Spain, made him appreciate the dangerous reality facing Africans undertaking perilous journeys in overcrowded and unseaworthy boats.
“How many more people must die at sea before we treat unsafe migration as the humanitarian emergency that it is?” he asked.
Ogundana stressed that his intervention was not against migration, noting that Nigerians had travelled around the world to study, work, establish businesses and contribute to other societies.
He said his experiences navigating visa restrictions, refusals, additional scrutiny and complicated border requirements had strengthened his belief that limited passport mobility should not mean limited opportunities.
“Limited passport mobility should never push anyone into surrendering their life to a smuggler. The problem is not that Africans want better lives. The problem is when desperation convinces people that dying for one is a reasonable risk,” he said.
Ogundana, who said he had travelled to more than 130 countries with a Nigerian passport, cited figures from the International Organization for Migration, saying about 60,000 migrants and refugees had reached Europe by sea by mid-September 2026.
He said the figure represented about 39 per cent fewer arrivals than the approximately 98,000 recorded during the comparable period in 2025.
However, he said at least 2,292 people had been recorded dead or missing during the period, compared with 1,999 during the corresponding period a year earlier.
“In other words, fewer people are making these journeys, but the journeys have become deadlier. The actual number could be higher because not every disappearance or shipwreck is documented,” he said.
On the West African Atlantic route to Spain’s Canary Islands, Ogundana said the IOM recorded 17,788 irregular arrivals in 2025, compared with 46,843 in 2024.
He added that 54 shipwrecks were recorded along the route, resulting in 1,214 documented deaths or disappearances.
He further said 3,845 migrants were recorded dead or missing in 2025 across broader routes from West and Central Africa towards Europe, including the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Sahara routes.
Ogundana said the figures showed that declining migrant arrivals did not necessarily mean the humanitarian crisis had ended.
“Behind every number is a human being—someone’s son, daughter, mother or father; someone who left home believing there was a better future somewhere else,” he said.
He also referred to the recent case of a migrant boat that departed The Gambia and was rescued near Spain’s Canary Islands after reportedly spending 27 days at sea.
According to him, five deaths were confirmed, while survivors reportedly told migrant-rights organisation Walking Borders that as many as 83 people, including women and a baby, may have died during the journey.
He noted that the higher figure had not been independently confirmed.
Ogundana said 41 survivors were brought ashore in Gran Canaria, while three others required hospital treatment.
He called for stronger public-awareness campaigns, expanded legal labour-migration pathways, improved intelligence-sharing and law-enforcement cooperation, as well as investment in vocational training, entrepreneurship, agriculture, technology and job creation.
“Telling a young unemployed Nigerian simply, ‘Don’t go,’ will achieve little if that person believes there is nothing to stay for. We have to provide credible alternatives,” he said.
Ogundana proposed a sustained Nigeria–Spain–Africa Safe Migration Initiative involving Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NAPTIP, NiDCOM, the IOM, Spain, the European Union, relevant African governments, civil society, the private sector and diaspora representatives.
He said the initiative should focus on safe migration, legal opportunities, youth employment, anti-trafficking enforcement and human dignity, with measurable outcomes.
“My message to young Nigerians is simple: travel the world, chase opportunities, cross borders and dream beyond where you were born, but do it legally, safely and with dignity,” he said.
He added: “People should be able to pursue opportunities beyond the borders of the countries where they were born. But nobody should have to die trying. The African dream of a better life should not end somewhere in the Sahara Desert or at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The journey should not end at sea.”
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