President Muhammadu Buhari has constituted a cabinet committee to probe the circumstances that led to the recent death of 26 Nigerian migrants in the Mediterranean.
The committee is also saddled with the responsibility of examining recent reports of the sale of Nigerian citizens through slavery.
A Presidency official disclosed this to journalists in Abuja on Friday.
The official said there was no truth in the claim that the government had not reacted to the death of the girls believed to have drowned at sea.
According to him, the cabinet committee is being chaired by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN).
Members of the committee include the Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs. Aisha Alhassan; Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Mr. Solomon Dalung; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geofrey Onyeama; and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and the Diaspora, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been on the issue and had briefed the Presidency on a regular basis since the time the tragic incident came to limelight.
“The government committee is expected to also examine the reports of incidents of the sale of Nigerian citizens through slavery and report to the Federal Executive Council within week,” the official said.
When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, told reporters that he was aware of the setting up of the committee.
On Ftiday, the Italy’s southern city of Salerno held a mass funeral for the 26 young women from Nigeria.
Twenty-six coffins were laid out in Salerno’s Monumental Cemetery on Friday morning, watched by a military guard, local politicians, rescue workers and journalists.
A Catholic archbishop and a Muslim imam both said prayers.
Each coffin bore a white rose on top, though only two were marked with names: Marian Shaka and Osato Osaro.
The bodies will be buried in different cemeteries around Salerno.
The city’s mayor declared Friday a day of mourning. Local schools have been asked to hold a minute of silence, while light displays in the city centre will be switched off on Friday evening in remembrance.
The girls’ bodies were recovered at sea and brought to Italy on November 3rd.
Post-mortem examinations revealed that 25 of the victims had drowned, while one had a wound to her side.
All of the girls are believed to have been Nigerian nationals between 14 and 30 years old. Five have been identified so far.
Two of them were pregnant, including Osaro with twins. Her coffin bore a pink and a blue rose in their memory.
