The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has received
another batch of 195 stranded Nigerians from Libya.
Alhaji Idris Muhammed, Coordinator, Lagos Territorial
Office, NEMA, who confirmed the development to newsmen on Thursday in Ikeja,
said this was the largest batch of voluntary returnees since the exercise began
in April 2017.
Muhammed said the Nigerians arrived at the Cargo Wing of the
Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja at 8.20p.m. on Wednesday aboard a
chartered Al Buraq Air aircraft with registration number 5A-DMG SEB.
He disclosed that they were the 69th batch of returnees
brought back by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the
European Union (EU) under the Assisted Voluntary Returnees (AVR) Programme.
According to him, after profiling, the breakdown of the new
returnees shows that they comprise of 71 female adults, 25 female children and
17 female infants.
“They also include 60 male adults, 12 male children and 10
male infants.
“Among them were three male returnees with minor medical
issues and seven pregnant women, ” Muhammed said.
Welcoming the returnees, he advised Nigerian youths to look
inwards and utilise the money they had set aside for embarking on perilous
journeys, to set up good businesses in the country.
“Since the EU closed their borders for irregular migrants,
the journeys through irregular means have become wasteful and dangerous.
“If you had used the huge amounts of money spent on these
fruitless efforts in Nigeria to start a business, you would have been very
successful in your endeavours.
“Therefore, you need to strive and embrace the Federal
Government’s enabling initiatives to empower the youths,” Muhammed said.
One of the returnees, Mr Kehinde Obala from Badagry, Lagos,
regretted his sojourn in the volatile North African country.
The 66 years old man said he was a successful mechanic and
pastor in Libya until the war broke out and he lost everything.
“I had a church over there but everything I worked for were
destroyed.
“Ordinarily, I never thought of coming back to Nigeria but
when I was assured and promised that I will be resettled when I return home
that was why I came back.
“I have wasted my life except IOM and government are
magnanimous enough to help me start from the scratch,” he said.
NEMA said as at March 15, 12,574 Nigerians have so far
returned from Libya under the Assisted Voluntary Returnees Programme, which
began in April 2017.
It was gathered that NEMA said over 4,900 of the returnees
have also been trained on various skill acquisition and empowerment training by
IOM through special funding facilitated by the EU.
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