CITY NEWS Returnees lament hostile living conditions in Libya

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Wednesday, received another batch of 121 stranded Nigerians from Libya with the returnees lamenting the hostile conditions they contended with in the North African country.

One of the returnees, Owoade Omolara, who hails from Apomu, Osun State , who claimed to have spent one year and three months in Libya, said every moment she lived in Libya was like been in hell until she found herself in prison for trumped up offence.

According to her, she got a job as a cleaner in an hospital in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, and when it was time for her to collect her first salary, she was accused of stealing and taken to prison.

After about three months in prison, International Organisation for Migration (IOM) came to her rescue.

She said she had N662,000 on her before she was taken out by a trafficker, known as Burger, and vowed to get her money from one Kemi, who she said was her main trafficker.

She said many Nigerians are languishing in Libyan prisons.

Another returnee, Iyabo Abiola, from Oyo State also lamented that she fell victim of deceitful talks of traffickers, who deceived her with a promise of getting $4,000 a month in the oil rich country. She vowed that she would expose the trafficker who lived in Nigeria soon.

The returnees, numbering 121 arrived Murtala International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, on board a Nouvelair flight with registration number TS-INA and SA320 at 5:30pm on Wednesday.

According to NEMA officials, the returnees were assisted by IMO after each of them individually expressed interest to voluntarily return to Nigeria.

The Zonal Coordinator of NEMA, Southwest, Suleiman Yakubu, who received the returnees on behalf of the Federal Government, enjoined them to learn from the unpleasant experiences in the course of their sojourn in Libya, to turn to a better life henceforth.

On arrival, the profiling of the returnees indicated that there are 60 female adults, and a girl; 57 male adults, two male children and a male infant.

Among the total number of 61 females and 60 males, there were two pregnant women and another two persons with medical issues.

Since March, 2016, a total of 2,232 Nigerians have been brought back to the country by IOM. Two weeks ago, 138 Nigerians were brought back to the country in similar circumstances.