The National Emergency Management Agency(NEMA) has received another batch of 148 stranded Nigerians from Niamey (Niger Republic).
Dr Nuradeen Abdullahi, NEMA Coordinator Kano Territorial Office, made the disclosure while receiving returnees at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport.
Abdullahi said the returnees arrived aboard SKY MALI Airlines, operated by Ethiopian airline B737-400 with registration number UR-CQX at about 4:06 p.m.
He said the returnees were brought back under the care of International Organisation for Migration (IOM) from Niamey (Niger Republic) through a voluntary repatriation programme.
According to him, the programme was meant for the distressed who had left the country to seek greener pastures in various European countries and could not afford to return.
The returnees from Lagos, Kano, Katsina, Jigawa and Kaduna among other states, comprised 94 males, 25 females and 29 children (13 males and 16 females).
“The returnees would undergo a three-day training on how to achieve self sustainability and would be provided with seed capital to enable them engage in productive ventures to be self reliant” Abdullahi said.
The Coordinator advised Nigerian youths to avoid endangering their lives by travelling to seek for greener pastures in other countries, adding that no country was better than Nigeria.
He urged them to put behind their experiences and be ambassadors towards advocacy and sensitisation against irregular migration.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the agency, between February and April, received 548 stranded Nigerians from Niamey, Niger Republic and Chad.
NAN reports that the returnees were received by NEMA, along with other sister security agency’s such as SEMA, Nigeria Red Cross, National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and IDPs and DSS.
