A total of 162 Nigerians comprising 98 women, 28 men, 24 children and 12 infants, who were stranded in Libya have been repatriated back home, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said on Wednesday morning.
The returnees, who arrived the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) from Tripoli, Libya, were brought back by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) through the Voluntary Repatriation Programme.
The Voluntary Repatriation Programme helps distressed or stranded migrants who left their home countries in search of greener pastures in Europe but got stuck on the way return to their respective countries.
Sine 2017, the IOM has assisted about 21,000 Nigerians stranded abroad to return home.
According to acting Southwest Coordinator of NEMA, Ibrahim Farinloye, the returnees left Libya at 10:10pm on Tuesday and were received by the Federal Government officials at 2:10am upon arrival of their flight.
He said five of the returnees were discovered to have different health-related issues after screening by Port Health Officials.
