16,387 Nigerians deported in 2017 – FG

By Awaal Gata Abuja About

16,387 Nigerians were deported back to the country at different times by different countries in 2017, the federal government has said. The figure was disclosed by the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Immigration Service, Muhammadu Babandede, during a joint press conference with a committee set up by the federal government to secure the release of Nigerians trapped in Libya.

“From January 2017 to January 2018 which is one year, one month, deportees from Libya were made up of 3,498 men; 2,684 women, 211 minors,” Babandede disclosed.

According to him, “The 3,836 Nigerian deportees from Saudi Arabia comprised of 395 men, 2,331 women and 1,110 children. The highest number of Nigerians deported in 2017 came from South Africa, Italy and Austria.” On his part, the Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoff rey Onyeama, said leadership tussles in the countries where Nigerian nationals travelled to had been making the federal government’s evacuation plans tedious. “There are different centres of power in that country. The central government recognised by the UN and AU does not have full control of the territories controlled by rebels,” he said.

According to him, the North African country is dotted with many detention camps, some of which are not under the control of the UN-backed government.

However, the minister added that Nigerian mission in Libya is coordinating the identification of the Nigerian migrants with the support of the International Organisation for Migration and were being joined by a technical team comprising representatives from NEMA, Immigration and other relevant government agencies to ensure safe return of the migrants back to the country

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