Two hundred and fifty-three Nigerians, who were stranded in Libya were yesterday deported to Nigeria. The returnees, who were conveyed by a Libyan Airline plane comprised of 140 adult females and eight children.
Also aboard were 103 adult male and three male children. Some of the deportees said they will never leave Nigeria again.
One of them who identified herself simply as Mary told Vanguard that it was a miracle she returned safely to Nigeria as she was being sold like a piece of merchandise in Libya. According to her.”
They were selling some of us like wood from one guard who will take us to some destination and again sell us to another who will now be our new owner.
‘’That will take us again to some distance and say his contract with us had expired and again sell us to another person.” “If you complain, they will ask you if you don’t want to go to Europe again.
My brother, e no easy,” she said, laughing sarcastically. This is the largest single batch of deportees to arrive Lagos airport in recent times.
The returnees journey back to Nigeria, as usual, was facilitated by International Oganisation for Migration, IOM, after the Federal Government asked for its assistance in respect of stranded Nigerians willing to return home.
The aircraft conveying them landed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, around 8:10pm yesterday and they were received at the Hajj Terminal by the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA. There were two medical cases among the deportees with one of them suffering serious burns on her face and the other from mental depression.
Addressing newsmen at the Hajj Camp wing of the airport where the returnees were profiled, the Director General of NEMA, Engr Mustapha Maihaja, represented by the Deputy Director, Search and Rescue, Dr. Abdullahi Onimode, said the deportees would be given some token to go back to their respective Nigerian homes.
He also advised those leaving the country in search of greener pastures to have a rethink and stay in the country to develop it.
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