Some of the 128 Nigerians, who arrived the country, Thursday, following their deportation from Libya, have begged the Federal Government to bring home thousands of Nigerians held in Arab countries.
Among the deportees, who were brought into the country at 5. 40 pm, through the International Wing of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, were six medical cases.
It was an Afriqiya Airline with flight number BURAQ 189 and Registration Number: 5A ONA, that brought them.
They were received at the airport by officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
NEXT EDITION learnt many of the deported Nigerians were held in detention camps and prisons across Libya.
Some of them who spoke to our correspondent but whose names cannot be published lamented that many Nigerians looking for the good life in Libya and Italy were being kidnaped, sold, tortured and imprisoned in those countries.
“Our people are being kidnapped, sold, tortured and sent to jail in Libya and Italy when they get there in search of greener pastures,” one of the deportees said.
“We call on the Federal Government to urgently take action to repatriate thousands of Nigerians languishing in prisons in Arab countries.”
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Thursday’s batch of the returnees is the 19th of such that was facilitated by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
Out of the 128 deportees, a total of 126 were males while only two were females.
One of the medical cases was a young man with spinal cord injury and suspected gunshot wounds.
Receiving them on behalf of the Federal Government, the Director General of NEMA, Mustapha Maihajja, represented by the Southwest Zonal Coordinator, Suleiman Yakubu, advised youth to desist from illegal entry into foreign countries.
He argued in the course of seeking better opportunities abroad, some youth embark on illegal trips where they expose themselves to suffering and inhuman treatment by authorities of those countries.
He said Nigeria vast opportunities for its people and appealed to young people to use their skills to better their lot at home instead of traveling abroad without relevant documentation.
Mr. Maihajja assured that the federal government in collaboration with the IOM and state governments have put in place, a mechanism to rehabilitate every returnee to the country.
Other agencies that joined NEMA in receiving the returnees were National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking
