President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday decried the high rate of illegal immigration of Nigerians into Europe.

Buhari said this at the 32rd Annual Meeting of the Sahel and West Africa organised by the Food Crisis Protection Network in Abuja.

Represented by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, the President urged Nigerian youths to stop illegal immigration.

“We are pained when we see our youths across West and North Eastern Africa in a desperate attempt to cross the desert; get to Libya and cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.

“We consider it as something that must stop as fast as possible because it is unfair to Europe.

“We think that if we reorganise our agriculture better, many of these youths will earn a decent living at home rather than become an embarrassment to their host countries and to us here in Africa.

“We are not unmindful of our youths population here, hence the need to ensure that the agriculture sector is revitalised as soon as possible.

“We have decided that we will no longer rely on rainfall, we will create dams, water reservoirs and insist on harvesting food at least three times in a year,’’ the president assured.

Azeez