IF for any reason there are still some Nigerians stranded in the war-torn Libya, such may have to look for alternative means of coming home as the Federal Government yesterday closed its evacuation missions to Libya.
A total of 4,000 Nigerians have now been evacuated from Libya, well above the originally targeted 2,000. By the beginning of the week, hundreds of Nigerians had emerged from the hinterland and interior communities in the Jamahiriya country.
Foreign service officers were among the 1,784 citizens brought into Abuja from Wednesday night through yesterday morning. The Nigerian government has also effectively closed its diplomatic mission in Tripoli, pending the restoration of normalcy to that country.
While the last flight brought in 194 passengers, including Nigeria’s Embassy officials and their families, the first flight in the last batch of the evacuation exercise brought in 558 passengers, after the second one which brought in 496 and another 536 in the third flight.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) also disclosed yesterday that the evacuation exercise for stranded Nigerians, especially those whose records are with the Nigerian Embassy at the Tripoli International Airport has also ended.
The Director General of NEMA, Muhammad Sani-Sidi said additional four flights were made from Monday to Wednesday directly from Tripoli and have been transported to their respective states of origin.
The Nigerian Charge De Affaires in Libya Mr. Harun Umar who accompanied the last batch said: “There are no more Nigerians at the Tripoli International Airport.
The Nigerian mission in Libya has been temporarily closed. Top officials of the mission, including Sheik K. Lemu, Tijjani Otman and Mrs. M. O. Abodunde have arrived.”
Meanwhile, a special team comprising officials from NEMA, Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Commission for Refugees, Nigeria Immigration Services, civil defence corps and relevant security agencies have been set up to receive other passengers brought into the country by the International Organisation for Migrations (IOM) and United Nations Agency for Refugees who would continue to evacuate stranded citizens through Libya’s neighbouring countries like Egypt and Tunisia.
So far, the international bodies had brought to the country about 300 Nigerians through Lagos, Kano and Abuja International Airport.
NEMA spokesman Yushau Shuaib confirmed yesterday that pending any special directive, these international agencies would be the ones bringing back any other emerging Nigerians from Libya. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everydayAdvertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
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