TheCable

Paul Eke, a Libya returnee, says many Nigerians “are still being imprisoned” in parts of the North African country.

In the past few months, the federal government has intensified its repatriation efforts of Nigerians stranded in Libya following the reported slave trade in the country.

A batch of 560 Nigerian returnees from Libya arrived Port Harcourt Saturday night.

Eke, who said Nigerians are being unjustly tortured in Libya, was among the fresh batch of returnees.

“I urge our federal government to do more by rescuing some Nigerians who are still trapped in some interior parts of Libya,” Eke told NAN.

“I stayed in Zawe Superata, this place is like an exit point to Italy and so many Nigerians are still being imprisoned there.”

The returnees, comprising 540 adult and 20 infants, arrived the airport on board Max Air at about 11:52pm.

Martins Ejike, the south-south zonal coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), said the choice of Port Harcourt airport as an evacuation route was based on its proximity to the most affected states.

“A graphic showed that Edo state along recorded 309 out of 484 migrants, the record also showed that over 80 per cent of the returnees were indigenes of Edo and Delta states.

“It is more convenient for the largely affected states to evacuate their returnees from Port Harcourt,” he said.

He lamented that despite the 48 hours given to states to evacuate their returnees from the reception centre, some are not responding to the process.