LANGUAGE AND TERMINOLOGY: MEANING OF DEPORTATION.

What is deportation when used in terms of the actions of the immigration authority of any country?

If a foreigner lands at a country’s port (airport) trying to enter into that country as a foreigner, that alien will proceed from the plane to the immigration desk where he meets the immigration officials of the country he landed in. This process is called inspection. The immigration official will inspect his traveling documents and stamp an approval for the alien to enter the country.

If the immigration office refuses to approve the person’s entry, it is said that the country has denied the alien entry. It is called exclusion in immigration law. He has been prevented from entering the country. The next thing to do will be to put the alien on the same aircraft he arrived with so he would leave the country he is trying to enter into. If the aircraft he landed in is not immediately available to take him back, he will be held in a safe place at the airport until there is a plane to take him out.

However, if the immigration official approves the alien to enter, then the alien is lawfully within the country. If after his entry, there is need to force him out of the country, that process is called deportation.

There is a difference between exclusion and deportation of aliens. What happened to Professor Lumumba in Lusaka as described in the press could not have been deportation. It was exclusion or denial of entry.

Having said so, it is important to know that lay people, who are not familiar with the precise language of the law would tend to describe exclusion event with the term deportation. This shouldn’t shock anybody in Africa. After all, Nigerians still speak of “Land Cruiser Jeep”, “Hummer Jeep”, “Lexus Jeep”, etc, even though it is impossible to have a Land Cruiser Jeep, since Land Cruiser is manufactured by Toyota, a different company from Chrysler that manufactures Jeep. Indeed, Jeep is a brand owned by Chrysler while Land Cruiser is a brand owned by Toyota. As it is impossible to have “7-Up Sprite”, so is it impossible to have a “Land Cruiser Jeep”. Yet, major newspapers in Nigeria all use these terms on their editorial pages.

You must adjust to the way Nigerians speak English. Also, most Nigerians tend to be experts on what they know nothing about.