Fresh batch of 161 Nigerians return from Libya

A fresh batch of 161 Nigerians stranded in Libya returned to the country on Thursday night.

They were received at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, by the acting Coordinator, Lagos Territorial Office of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye.

According to Farinloye, the returnees were brought back to Nigeria via Al Buraq Air Boeing 737 aircraft with flight number UZ 189 and registration number 5A-DMG.

He said the Nigerians’ return was facilitated by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the European Union on the platform of the Assisted Voluntary Returnees (AVR) Programme.

The NEMA coordinator told journalists that the returnees comprised of 48 women, four girls, five female infants and 102 men, one boy and one infant male.

Other agencies that received the returnees included the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).

Farinloye said: “This batch brought the total number of voluntary returnees from Libya to 14,045, which is made up of 8,200 men and 5,845 women.”

One of the returnees, an indigene of Akure, Ondo State, who preferred anonymity, said she was 19 years when she left Nigeria.

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The returnee said that she spent a year and three months in the North African country before she decided to return to Nigeria.

According to the young woman, she left Nigeria due to pressure on her when her mother had mental health problems and the father of her child abandoned them.

She said: “I was left with the tasks of fending for my siblings, mother, and my daughter.

“My mother’s relations and friends abandoned us. I was a tailoring apprentice after my husband left us.

“My mum was thrown out of the house because we could not afford to pay for rent.”

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