by Azeez Adeniyi

Another 155 Nigerians have voluntarily returned home on Thursday from Libya after 171 others arrived Nigeria two weeks ago.

The returnees arrived the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos at about 6.00 p.m via a chartered Nouvel Air aircraft with registration number TS-1NB.

Like the initial group which returned on March 7 after being stranded in Libya while enroute Europe, the returnees were brought back by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the Nigerian Embassy in Libya.

They were received by officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), the National Agency for the Protection of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and the Police.

Onimode Bandele, Director, Search and Rescue, NEMA, said various agencies were on ground to welcome the returnees.

“We are here to welcome our nationals who have signified their intention to come back home from Libya.

“The returnees are being assisted back home by IOM, having being negotiated out of detention centres in Libya for various immigration offences.

“We had three medical cases on board; one is paralysis, the other one is a psychiatric problem, while the third is a minor injury which has been taken care of with the effort of the IOM doctors and the Port Health Authority,” he said.

He disclosed that about 7000 Nigerians had been assisted by IOM to return home from various countries since 2001.

He added, “Between March 2016 to December 2016, IOM assisted 867 Nigerians back home. Between February 2017 till date, we have had 654 Nigerians.

“This means that between March 2016 to March 23, 2017, IOM had assisted 1521 Nigerians that have voluntarily returned to the country.

“This exercise we are doing here is to ensure that they are well received and we are also in touch with their respective state governments.

“They (state governments) will definitely take ownership of these voluntary returnees,” he said.

The returnees were profiled by immigration authorities and were each given N19, 695 for transportation to their respective states.