79 More Nigerians Arrive From Libya

A total of 79 Nigerians, who were trapped in Libya, arrived Maiduguri on Sunday through Gamboru Ngala, a border town between Nigeria and Republic of Chad.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that no fewer than 329 Nigerians had arrived from the North African country.

The returnees were transported in five Cameroonian commercial buses with the inscription, “Touritique Express,’’ were accompanied by two officials of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) based in Chad.

Officers and men of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) led by ACI Abubakar Mohammed thoroughly searched and screened the returnees to ensure that they were authentic Nigerians.

NAN learnt that the screening was also aimed at ensuring that the returnees did not carry any contrabands into the country.

One of the returnees and indigene of Edo, Aishatu Suleiman, told NAN that she would never travel outside Nigeria for greener pastures again, saying the agony she went through was unimaginable.

She said that they travelled for more than 40 days through the Sahara desert before they finally arrived in Borno.

Receiving the returnees, the North East Zonal Coordinator of NEMA, Aliyu Sambo, advised Nigerians to stay in their country to earn a living.

Sambo said Nigeria was blessed with abundant natural resources which could provide comfort for its citizens.

The NEMA official, who gave an assurance that all returnees would be transported to their states of origin, said 18 of them were critically ill.