The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has received a batch of 298 Nigerians who were stranded in Libyan prisons.
The agency which said this in a statement on Tuesday in Lagos, noted that the returnees spent varying periods at various detention camps in the northern African country.
NEMA’s Lagos State Territorial Coordinator, 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.
They were repatriated back to the country in two separate chartered flights, the first with 161 returnees on Aug. 21 while the second flight came on Monday with 137 returnees.
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“They all came back into the country with sad tales of bitter experiences in Libyan prisons,” Farinloye said.
According to NEMA, the second batch of returnees arrived on board an Al Buraq Air Boeing 737-800 with registration number 5A-DMG,at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport, Cargo Wing, Ikeja at about 5:38 p.m. on Monday.
The returnees comprised 119 females who were mostly pregnant and 170 males with 3 female children, 3 male children and 3 infants, News Agency of Nigeria detailed.
NEMA revealed that Port Health Service and National Commission for Refugees, Migrants (NCFRM) also received the returnees.
The returnees were stranded in Libya in an attempt to enter Europe through the Mediterranean Sea.
