LAGOS- Two hundred and ninety-eight stranded Nigerians in Libya have been repatriated back to the country in separate chartered flights early this week.
The National Emergency Management Agency disclosed this on Monday in a statement.
NEMA’s Lagos State Territorial Coordinator, Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, explained that the returnees were sent back to the country directly from Libyan prison aided by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations (UN) under their Migrants’ Protection and Assistance Programme.
The first batch of 161 returnees arrived in Nigeria on the 21st of August, 2023, while the second flight with 137 landed on Monday.
The second batch of returnees was brought back aboard an Al Buraq Air Boeing 737-800 with registration number 5A-DMG, which touched down at the Cargo Wing of the Murtala Muhammad International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja at about 5:38 p.m. on Monday.
“They all came back into the country with sad tales of bitter experiences in Libyan prisons”, Farinloye said.
The returnees were stranded in Libya in an attempt to enter Europe through the Mediterranean Sea.
