No fewer than 148 stranded Nigerians have been received by the National Emergency Management Agency(NEMA) from Niamey(Niger Republic).
NEMA Coordinator Kano Territorial Office, Dr Nuradeen Abdullahi, made the disclosure while receiving the returnees at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport.
He said the returnees arrived aboard SKY MALI Airlines, operated by Ethiopian airline B737-400 with registration number UR-CQX at about 4:06 p.m.
According to him, the returnees were brought back under the care of International Organisation for Migration (IOM) from Niamey (Niger Republic) through a voluntary repatriation programme.
“The programme was meant for the distressed who had left the country to seek for greener pastures in various European countries and could not afford to return when their journey became frustrated”
The returnees from Lagos, Kano, Katsina, Jigawa and Kaduna among other states comprised 94 male, 25 female and 29 children (13 male and 16 female).
He noted that the returnees would undergo a three-day training on how to achieve self sustainability and would be provided with seed capital to enable them engage in productive ventures to be self reliant” Abdullahi said
Abdullahi advised Nigerian youths to avoid endangering their lives by travelling to seek for greener pastures in other countries, adding that no country better than Nigeria.
He urged them to put behind their experiences and be ambassadors towards advocacy and sensitisation against irregular migration.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the agency between February and April received 548 stranded Nigerians from Niamey Niger Republic and Chad.
The returnees were received by NEMA, along with other sister security agency’s such as DSS, SEMA, Nigeria Red Cross, ,National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and IDPs.
