Federal government flies another 250 Nigerian back from Libya as repatriation programme gathers pace

ABOUT 250 Nigerians living in Libya are expected in the country later today as the federal government steps up its programme of repatriating stranded citizens marooned in the country en-route to Europe in search of a better life.

Every year, thousands of Nigerians brave the perils of the Sahara desert, travelling by road across Niger Republic and Libya in the hope of getting to the Mediterranean Sea and crossing into Europe. However, hundreds of them die in the process and of late, human traffickers have cashed in on the trade, arresting and detaining thousands of Nigerians in Libya until large ransoms are paid for their release.

Last month, the situation came to a head when it emerged that some of these migrants were treated as slaves, chained together and sold at auctions to human traffickers. As Libya has no functioning government, these migrants fall into the hands of the armed militia groups running the country, who sell them to traffickers and use the money to re-equip themselves.

Due to the outrage that the illegal trade has caused, the Nigerian government has stepped up efforts to bring its nationals back from Libya. About 250 Nigerians are expected at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos today, which will bring to 3,000 the total number repatriated since the evacuation programme begun.

Iliya Fachano, the charge d’affairs at the Nigerian mission in Libya, said that embassy officials visited the detention camps weekly where illegal migrants mostly from African countries were held. He added that those identified as Nigerians were given emergency travel certificates to enable them to return to Nigeria on chartered aircraft financed by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

Mr Fachano said: “The IOM informs the mission once Nigerians are identified among the illegal migrants, we then visit the detention camps, register them and give them emergency travel certificate, then schedule a date for their return. The mission repatriates immigrant Nigerians weekly.

“They are not only Nigerians there, there are other nationalities like Ghanaian and Gambians, so the Nigerian embassy visits that place to identify its own people. So far we have registered about 2,000 Nigerians and 250 will return now because no plane has the capacity to take all the detained people at once.

He added that the exercise is carried out regularly, stressing that after immigrants are scheduled for a flight, their names contained in a manifest is sent to Nigeria. According to Mr Fachano, the moment the immigrants are brought back to the country, the National Emergency Management Agency would receive and ensure they are resettled.