Nigeria records 1000 returnees in 2 years from Libya

171 Nigerian returnees from Libya yesterday arrived the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos recounting their ordeal in search of greener pastures.

The returnees were received by Special Adviser on Diaspora and Foreign Affairs, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, who cautioned Nigerians to desist from dangerous search for greener in Libya.
She said yesterday’s number of 171 brings to over 1,000 returnees who have been brought home from Libya in the last two years.

The returnees consisting 112 females, 49 males and five infants.
The returnees were flown in aboard an Airbus 320 belonging to Nouvelair with registration number TS – INB that landed about 4.13 pm.

The returnees were also received by officials of International Organization of Migration ( IOM), Nigerian Immigration Service, Nigerian Police, National Emergency Management Agency ( NEMA) and other security agencies .

Speaking in an interview at the Hajj Camp axis of the Lagos Airport, Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa admonished the returnees to to see themselves as criminals, but Nigerians who have experience of seeking greener pastures , but could now tell a different story.

She cautioned parents to advise their children against such risky ventures of traveling to foreign lands without knowing the risks associated.
She urged state governments to design empowerment programmes for returnees to enable them pick their lives back .

She said government is committed to ensuring that such people are rehabilitated after their sour experience abroad, urging those wishing to explore such opportunities to desist from it.
Erewa said :” This is not the time to travel abroad . It is always a sad story to be trafficked. Some of these persons wanted better life, but now they know better that it is not worth the trouble.

“We will continue to caution patients to discourage their children to not embark on such trips.
There is no better time to learnt skills than now. We are calling on all Nigerians in Libya to come back home because such trips are not worth it at all.

We are therefore calling on state governments to design empowerment programmes to assist these persons that are lucky to have arrived alive. Some died trying to move to Europe. Many more will be brought back home.”

While narrating her ordeal, one of the female returnees , who identified herself as Gift Peters said many Nigerians are exposed to harrowing experiences in Libya, as many were serving jail terms for offences they have not committed .

She said she was lured into the trafficking ring without the knowledge of her parents by an un -identified trafficker, who is on the run .

Peters said :” Travelling to Libya is not worth the experience. The torture, the maltreatment we encountered is not what words could describe.
Some of us were beaten by iron, burnt and sent to jail.

” Many Nigerian girls are in prison, many have died from gunshot wounds. I even lost many of my friends.”

The NEMA team that facilitated their movement from the aircraft to the Hajj Camp was led by its Director of Search and Rescue, Air Commodore Salisu Mohammed.