The National Emergency Management Agency said it had helped no fewer than 298 Nigerians trapped in Libyan prisons return home to reunite with family and friends since it began a repatriation exercise on August 21, 2023.
NEMA disclosed this in a statement shared on its X (formerly Twitter) page on Monday.
According to the statement, the 298 persons included 124 females and 174 males among which were three infants and six children.
The statement read in part, “Within a span of a week, a total of 298 Nigerian individuals who had been trapped in Libyan prisons were successfully repatriated to their home country. These individuals arrived in two separate chartered flights – the first flight on August 21, 2023, brought 161 returnees, while the second flight brought 137 returnees and arrived today.
“These returnees, most of whom were women, had endured distressing experiences during their time in detention camps in troubled northern Africa. They expressed that they wouldn’t wish such experiences on anybody.
“The profile of the returnees is as follows: 119 adult females, many of whom were pregnant, along with 3 female children and 2 female infants Additionally, there were 170 adult males, 3 male children, and 1 male infant, making up the total of 298 individuals who were brought back.”
NEMA said the repatriation exercise which started on August 21 to August 28 was made possible through the joint effort of IOM, NEMA, Port Health, and NCFRM
“The returnees were transported via an Al Buraq Air Boeing 737-800 aircraft with the registration number 5A-DMG. They arrived at the Cargo Wing of the Murtala Muhammad International Airport in Ikeja at approximately 17:38 on Monday night.
“The repatriation process was coordinated by several agencies including, all of which were present at the airport to receive the returnees”, the statement concluded.
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