Reps to FG: Repatriate 22 Nigerians stranded in Niger

The House of Representatives has directed its committees on foreign affairs and interior to liaise with the Federal Government to ensure immediate repatriation of 22 Nigerians currently stranded in Niger Republic.

This was just as the lawmakers tasked the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) to facilitate their meaningful integration into the larger society when repatriated.

The resolution followed a motion of urgent public importance brought by Abdullahi Salame (APC, Sokoto) on the “need to repatriate 22 Nigerians stranded in Niger Republic after escaping slavery in Lybia.”

He said the condition of the Nigerian escapees from Libya requires Federal Government’s urgent intervention as most of them had suffered various gunshot wounds and abuses while in Libya.

He further recalled that the ECOWAS Parliament recently sent its delegation on fact finding mission to ascertain the status of West Africans that escaped persecution and slavery in Libya currently at the International Organization for Migrants Camp in Agades, Niger Republic.

In their separate contributions, other lawmakers expressed worry over the possibility of epidemic outbreak and vulnerability in the camp whenever the international organizations decide to withdraw their services.

They also regretted that Nigeria’s image, as the leader of ECOWAS, is being tarnished by the development, which necessitates that drastic action be taken to repatriate the Nigerian escapees currently languishing in the camp.

The motion was unanimously adopted when put to voice vote by Speaker Yakubu Dogara. human rights