Switzerland funding Nigerian ‘anti-migration’ television series

The Swiss government has sunk $580,000 into a television series about the perils of living illegally in Switzerland. The idea for the 13-episode series came out of a 2011 migration agreement between Switzerland and Nigeria in which the latter pledged to expats who wanted to voluntarily return.

Missing Steps will tell the story of Joshua, a Nigerian man who is living illegally in Switzerland after being denied asylum.

Swiss Secretariat for Migration (SEM) spokesman Lukas Rieder said the series was commissioned to give Nigerians objective information about migrating to Switzerland and not dissuade them.

"We have seen that a lack of information or false information is one of the main problems that leads to illegal migration," he told The Local.

"Human traffickers tell potential migrants that Switzerland is paradise, it's Eldorado. But that's not true. We want to provide objective information about the dangers of passage, and the dangers of living in Switzerland without a permit, for example."

Nigerian film crews are currently filming on location in Switzerland's capital city, Bern.

Nigerian's film industry, 'Nollywood', surpassed Hollywood in 2009 to become the second-largest global film producer. It is behind India's Bollywood, according to the UN. It produces approximately 2,000 films a year - most of them on shoestring budgets.