After series of evacuation, the National Emergency Management Agency on Tuesday in Lagos received another 173 Nigerians stranded in Libya.
The returnees, who came in two flights, were received by the Coordinator, Lagos Territorial Office of NEMA, Alhaji Abubakar Muhammed at the Cargo Wing of the Murtala Muhammed lnternational Airport, lkeja.
The International Organisation for Migration and the European Union under the Assisted Voluntary Returnees Programme which began in April 2017 had helped the returnees back home.
“162 of the returnees arrived from Misrata in a chartered aircraft belonging to Al Buraq Air with registration number 5A-DMG, at 4.52a.m.
“Another 11 returnees arrived via a commercial flight from Bengazi at 5.15a.m.
“The profiling of the returnees on arrival indicated that there were 52 female adults, four female children and four female infants as well as 106 male adults, two male children and five male infants.
“Twenty-one of the returnees had medical issues and were immediately attended to by the medical team on ground,” he said.
One of the returnees, Miss Aishat Areni, from Ogun State, told newsmen that she was deceived with the promise of travelling to US to ply her trade — catering.
The 23-year-old said her aunt was the person who lured her into the perilous journey, which she discovered after she left Nigeria.
She said: “It was my mates that revealed to me that it was Libya that we were heading and I started making trouble that it was USA that I was promised.
“When we got to Libya, I was told that there’s nothing like catering job; that is either you be a house girl or to be sold out to Connection House, which is prostitution network.”
The returnee said she worked for one year and three months but paid her trafficker N90,000 monthly for five months.
“I decided to return home because the nature of the work is not ideal for a human being.
” I will advise whoever is thinking of going to Libya never to contemplate doing so.
“Nigeria is far better than Libya; Libya is dangerous. It is either you are kidnapped, killed, raped or robbed, and there’s bombing here and there. Nigerians are not safe there.”
Areni said her journey back home began after her mother contacted the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons.”
According to her, the phone number of a staff of the Nigerian Embassy was sent to her who facilitated her return to the country.
For returning safely, Areni said: “I’m grateful to the Nigerian government for helping me back to the country.”
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