Nigeria to Repatriate Trapped Migrants

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has said that 116 of the Nigerian migrants trapped in Libyan slave camps would be transported home soon.

This statement was made by the Senior Special Assistant’s media aide, Abdur-Rahman Balogun on Sunday in Abuja.

According to her, the Federal Government and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), have located detention camps of Nigerians and have offered to bring those willing to return, back to Nigeria.

116 Nigerian migrants have been processed online by the Nigeria Mission in Tripoli and IOM for deportation to Nigeria. However, 24 of them insisted they must get to Europe, she added.

She said that the Federal Government moved to rescue the detained migrants after their plea for help via a video clip from Libya on July 8.

In the video, the stranded Nigerians who covered their faces said that their final destination is Europe but was interrupted by the security agencies in Libya and locked up in degrading conditions.

“We are dying here. Come and rescue us. Europe is our final destination but we are trapped in Libya, subjecting us to inhuman treatment,” one of the Nigerians said in the video.

Dabiri-Erewa said that 9,438 Nigerian migrants had so far been repatriated by the federal Government and the IOM.

She guaranteed President Muhammadu Buhari will make sure that all stranded migrants willing to return home to Nigeria be brought back.

Earlier this year, President Buhari directed the immediate evacuation of Nigerians from Libya.

According to her, those that have been brought back are being profiled and enrolled in various technical and vocational training centers with appropriate agencies and non-governmental organizations.

She appealed to Nigerian youths to avail themselves of the opportunities in the country rather than risking their lives in search of non-existent and deadly greener pastures.

Culled from Punch News

By Oluwaseyi Jeje.