The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) says a total of 1,295 Nigerians voluntarily returned from Libya in November after being stranded in the volatile North African country en route Europe. The Nigerians returned in various batches between Nov. 6 and Nov. 30 with the assistance of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the European Union (EU).
The Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Alhaji Mustapha Maihajja, made the disclosure while receiving a fresh batch of 150 Nigerians who arrived the country on Thursday. The returnees were brought back aboard a Boeing 737-800 aircraft with Registration Number:6A-DMG. The aircraft landed at the Cargo Wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos at about 9.15pm. The returnees comprised of 13 female adults and one teenage girl while the male were 133 adults, two teenage boys and one baby boy. They were received on behalf of Maihajja by the South West Zonal coordinator of NEMA, Alhaji Suleiman Yakubu.
Also on ground to welcome the returnees back home were officials of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Police.
Source: News agencies
