No fewer than 253 Nigerians voluntarily returned from Libya on Tuesday
aboard a chartered Airbus A330-200 with registration 5A-LAT operated by
Libya Airlines.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the
aircraft landed about 6.45pm at the Murtala Muhammed International
Airport, Lagos.
The returnees were made up of of 102 males, 140 females, six children and five infants.
They were brought back by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the Nigerian embassy in Libya.
The
returnees were received at the Hajj Camp area of the airport by
officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) , the National Agency
for the Protection of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and the Police.
Also
on ground to receive them were officials of the National Emergency
Management Agency (NEMA) and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria
(FAAN).
Addressing newsmen, Dr Onimode Bandele, Director, Search and Rescue, NEMA, said two of the returnees had medical issues.
According to him, one of them was suffering from depression, while the other had severe burns requiring surgical operation.He said :”Let’s thank God that these ones have returned safely because Libya is not what it used to be.
“As
a government, our advice is that young Nigerians should strive to work
hard and tap into vast opportunities available in the country instead of
seeking greener pastures elsewhere. ”
Bandele said some state
governments had initiated various programmes to rehabilitate and
reintegrate the returnees back into the society.
He said NEMA
would continue to work with IOM to bring back Nigerians willing to
return, adding that the programme was continuous.
Speaking to
newsmen, the returnee who suffered the severe burns on her face said she
arrived Libya in February after making a payment of N300, 000 to her
traffickers.
She told newsmen that she suffered the injury while
working for her “madam” who only went to dump her at the hospital where
she was abandoned.
The returnee, therefore, appealed to the government for assistance to carry out a reconstructive surgery on her face.
NAN
reports that a total of 236 Nigerians had in March voluntarily returned
from the North African country where they had been stranded enroute
Europe.
NAN
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