16, 387 Nigerians deported in 2017

The Comptroller General of the Nigerian Immigration Service Muhammadu Babandede said yesterday that 16,387 Nigerians were deported from different countries in 2017.

Babandede said 5,980 Nigerians were evacuated from Libya, 3,836 from Saudi Arabia while South Africa and other European countries deported 6,643 Nigerians in 2017.

He was speaking at a joint press conference by the federal government delegation to Libya who were on a fact-finding mission with a mandate to secure the release of Nigerian migrants stranded in the north African country.

The delegation is led by the Minister of Foreign Minister Affairs Geoffrey Onyema and comprising the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Abike Dabiri-Erewa and Comptroller General of the Nigerian Immigration Service Muhammadu Babandede.

“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,” the immigration boss said.

The 3,836 Nigerian deportees from Saudi Arabia comprised 395 men, 2,331 women, and 1,110 children, he said.

The highest number of Nigerians deported in 2017 came from South Africa, Italy, and Austria, he added.

He, therefore, said that there need to educate parents that “Europe is not a paradise, that the desert is hot, and the sea is not a river to cross.”

Also speaking, the NEMA boss Engr Mustapha Maihaja disclosed that 545 Nigerian migrants from Libya are expected to arrive the country yesterday.

He said the returnees were among the 5, 037 stranded Nigerians identified for evacuation back home.

Speaking earlier, Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama acknowledged that the leadership crisis in Libya affects the processes to secure the evacuation.

“There are different centres of power in that country. The central government recognized by the UN and AU does not have full control of the territories controlled by rebels,” he said.

He said there are over 50 detention camps in Libya, some of them not under the control of the UN-backed government.

The Nigerian mission in Libya is coordinating the identification of the Nigerian migrants with the support of the International Organization for Migration and are being joined by a technical team comprising representatives from NEMA, Immigration, and other all relevant government agencies.

Two indigenous carriers are engaged in the evacuation exercises of stranded Nigerians from Libya.