There were mixed reactions late Tuesday, March 7 as another 171 Nigerians repatriated from Libya touched down at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.
The returnees are said to also comprise of 10 children and two infants.
While some relatives of the repatriated danced in joy over the safe return of their wards, some of the returnees came out of the aircraft dejected and confused.
It was earlier reported that the senior special assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, revealed that another set of 180 Nigerians were expected in Nigeria from Libya.
The Punch reports that the returnees were stranded in Libya, but arrived at the cargo terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, aboard a chartered Burac Air flight with registration number TNSIB UZ189/190.
Their return, according to the report, was through a joint effort by the International Organisation of Migration and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in collaboration with the officials of the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced.
Dr Bandele Onimode, NEMA’s deputy director in charge of search and rescue, who represented the organisation’s director-general, Alhaji Mohammed Sani-Sidi, said between December 15, 2016 and March, a total of 643 Nigerians had been repatriated.
“There’s a strong collaboration between the IOM and NEMA. Usually the IOM in Nigeria would inform us that the IOM mission in Libya had done some coordination and they have been able to get some of these Nigerians who are ready to come back home.
“Usually, they would give us this information like four, five days before their departure.
“This number keeps fluctuating. Sometimes, it reduces and sometimes, it decreases but the real figure we are giving is what we received at the tarmac. So, it is a collaboration between the IOM Nigeria and the IOM mission in Libya,” he said adding that NEMA, in collaboration with other government agencies, would ensure the rehabilitation of the returnees.
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