A batch of 218 Nigerians including seven pregnant women on Tuesday morning voluntarily returned from Libya where
they had been stranded en-route Europe.
The returnees arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos about 3.44 a.m. aboard a chartered Libyan Airlines Airbus A330-200 aircraft with registration number 5A-LAU. They comprised of 46 adult females, five female infants, 161 adult males, two male children and four male infants.
They were brought with the assistance of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the European Union (EU). The South West Zonal Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Alhaji Yakubu Suleiman, said a total of 8,129 Nigerians had returned so far under the EU and IOM Assisted Voluntary Returnees Programme.
Suleiman advised the returnees to be champions of change in sensitising the youths against the urge of seeking greener pastures through irregular migration due to unforeseen dangers. He assured them that the Federal Government was pursuing socio-economic programmes aimed at giving employable opportunities to the youths.
According to him, the government has intensified efforts at curbing the menace of corruption that has bedevilled the country and denied Nigerians the opportunities to put up their best toward its development.
