The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has received 140 Nigerians stranded in Agadez, Niger Republic on their way to Europe through Mediterranean Sea.

The NEMA coordinator, Kano Territorial Office, Nuradeen Abdullahi, stated this while receiving the returnees in Kano.

According to him, the stranded Nigerians were received in Kano at about 9.38 p.m. in three luxury buses under the custody of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) from Niger Republic.

Abdullahi noted that the returnees were brought back through a voluntary repatriation programme for the distressed who had left the country to seek better opportunities in Europe but their journey became unsuccessful.

The returnees included 100 male adults, 30 female adults, and 10 children (six female and four male).

“The returnees are from different parts of the country, some from Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Jos, Lagos and Cross River, among other states,” he said.

The NEMA coordinator further stated that the returnees would be trained for four days to be self-reliant and be given a grant to start off businesses.

The returnees were given clothes, food, toiletries, blankets, mosquito nets, pampers, and sanitary pads.

He enjoined the returnees to be ambassadors for advocacy and sensitisation against irregular migration.

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“Nigerians should avoid endangering their lives by travelling to seek greener pastures in other countries as no country is better than Nigeria,” Abdullahi added.

A returnee, Aisha Lawal, from Kaduna State, a divorcee and mother of five, said she travelled to Libya for greener pasture with one of her kids.

“I was a businesswoman before I left my husband, we are suffering and I have no capital to continue with my business that was why I decided to travel to Libya,” she said.

Another returnee, Richard Odogwu, from Lagos State, said before he travelled he was working in a company.

“I was sacked from the company I work to make little money in taking care of my six siblings.

“My parents are dead and I have to take care of my siblings that was why I decided to travel to Libya to search for greener pasture,” Odogwu said.

It would be recalled that the agency had between May and June received a total of 227 stranded Nigerians from Agadez.

The Star