The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Friday received a fresh batch of 168 Nigerians deported from Libya.
The distressed and stranded Nigerians were among the Voluntary Returnees who were assisted back to Nigeria by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) with the support of European Union (EU) as a special intervention, were received at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Cargo Wing on arrival by Ibrahim Farinloye, the Acting Coordinator of NEMA Lagos Territorial Office on behalf of Director General of NEMA, Engr Mustapha Maihajja.
The Returnees who arrived the country aboard Al Buraq airline landed about 5: 42 am on Friday after 12 hours delay.
After profiling, the 38 adult females, five female children were brought back while 109 adult males, six male children and 10 infants were amongst the new Returnees.
Those so far returned from Libya according to NEMA from Libya in the last few years comprise 8,096 males and 5,788 females alone.
The NEMA official said the number of Returnees brought to Nigeria from 16 countries include 15,731 since April, 2017 till date.
Farinloye while quoting the summary of the special EU-IOM and Federal Government intervention since 2017 till October, 2019 said Libya had the highest number of Returnees .
He said :” Libya has the highest number of returnees with males number comprising 8,096 and female 5, 788; Niger Republic 1,043 males and 556 females; Morocco, males 42, female 37; Liberia males eight and females four , Burkina Faso males six and females 18; France males three and females one while Ireland had only one female but countries like Poland ,Austria, Gambia, Mauritania, Ethiopia had one male each assisted back Chad had one male and two females and Cote D’ivoire had only two females brought back within the periods.
He said that adult males formed 54 per cent and 37 per cent are for females while male and female minors are four per cent each.
“In the same vein, the distressed migrants brought back per state of Origin show that Edo State topped the list with 40.6 per cent ; Delta 13.3 per cent Ogun 6.2 per cent Imo 4.7 per cent Lagos 4.3 per cent Oyo 4.1 per cent Yobe 3.6 per cent Kano 3.1 per cent and Osun with 2.9 per cent while other states completed the rest,” he said.
According to NEMA, those that suffered various degrees of torture in males were 31and females 21. Unaccompanied minors that were assisted back in males were 66 and females were 67; those who were kidnapped out of Nigeria but assisted back were 79 males and 31 females; single-parent males were 41 and 616 among women.
The number of pregnant women brought back so far was 439 while those with various medical issues were 592 males and 804 females. Migrants assisted back with psychosocial needs are 523 males and 470 female, the agency said.
