* Returning with smile with her twins on arrival at Hajj and Cargo Section of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos today.
Barely 24 hours after the United Kingdom deported 35 Nigerians for allegedly committing immigration related offences, 165 Nigerians known as voluntary returnees today arrived the cargo section of the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos.
The voluntary returnees arrived at the international wing of the airport at about 5.50pm comprises 97 males, 54females, children 11 and 3 infants.
They were brought back by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM9) in collaboration with the Nigerian Embassy in Libya in a Libyan chartered Nouvelair aircraft with registration number TS-INA.
The 164 returnees were received by officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) , the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Police.
The returnees were profiled on disembarking from the chartered aircraft by officers of NIS to ensure that they are truly Nigerians.
Attempts made to speak with the returnees proved abortive, but the online platform over heard one of the returnees telling another returnee that he thank God for bringing him back home safely from Libya.
“Though, things are rough in Libya, but I thank Almighty God for bringing me back safely to my country Nigeria” the returnee was heard as saying.
Recalled that Abelnewsng.com had reported yesterday that voluntary returnees will be arriving the country May 25, 2017 from Libya.
The online platform learnt that the 164 Nigeria returnees from Libya is the last batch of returnees that will be ferried into the country this month and that the operation will resume after the Muslim fasting period; Ramadan.
Speaking to journalists shortly after the returnees alighted from the aircraft, the Director General, NEMA Alhaji Mustapha Maihaja, stated that the agency in collaboration with the IOM was working to ensure that Nigerians stranded in Libya are brought back home.
According to him, “We are here to ensure that they are well received. We feed them and give them money to enable them get back to their respective destinations.”
The Director General, who was represented by the Zonal Coordinator, South West, NEMA, Mr Suleiman advised Nigerian youths to develop the mentality of not only to stay back in Nigeria but to also help in building a great country.
In his words, “Those of them who have gone and come back will testify that it is better here especially now that we are in the era of the change mantra. A lot of initiatives have been put in place by the present administration to ensure that life is better in Nigeria.”
He informed that the various state government, most especially that of Edo State has initiated skill acquisition schemes to help rehabilitate and reintegrate the returnees into the society.
He stated that similar scheme would be put in place by the IOM in July and that the organisation had already notified stakeholders about it.
