TheCable

Forty-one Nigerians deported from seven European countries for committing immigration-related offences arrived the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on Thursday.

This is just as a batch of 128 Nigerians deported from Libya arrived at the same airport aboard a chartered Airbus A320 Afriqiyah aircraft with registration number 5A-ONA.

The seven European countries that deported are Australia, Switzerland, Hungary, Netherland, Germany, Norway and Denmark.

The Privilege Style aircraft with Registration mark EC-120 which flew in the deportees, comprising 35 male and six female, touched down at 10:50am.

“This morning, we received 41 Nigerians who were brought back from Europe. They were made up of 35 males and six females,” Joseph Alabi, spokesman of the Lagos airport police command, told NAN.

He said all the deportees were alleged to have committed immigration-related offences in their host countries.

Thirty-four Nigerians were deported from six European countries on June 22 for committing similar offences.

The Nigerians were deported from Switzerland, Germany, Iceland, Austria, Belgium and Hungary.

Meanwhile, the aircraft which conveyed those from Libya touched down the Lagos airport at 5:35pm.

The deportees, comprising 126 male, two female, were flown back into the waiting hands of officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and the Police.

Also on ground were officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

The two females and four male deportees had medical cases.

Mustapha Maihaja, director-general, NEMA, represented by Suleiman Yakubu, zonal coordinator, south-west, NEMA, used to occasion to counsel Nigerians not to be deceived by phantom promises in their quest for pastures.

He said one of those who returned had sustained bullet injuries all over his body had been stretchered into a NEMA ambulance.

Maihaja said the victim would be taken to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) for proper medical attention.

He advised Nigerians to stay back and contribute their quota to the socio-economic development of the country.

“There are a lot of things you can do in Nigeria here. You don’t have to travel outside the country in search of greener pastures,” he said.

“My advice to parents is to keep tab on their children and to ensure that they know where their children are going and not to be deceived by phantom promises.”

Maihaja said NEMA and some state governments had put various schemes in place to help rehabilitate and reintegrate returnees into the society.

On Wednesday, Julie Okah-Donli, director-general, National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP, said 540 Nigerians were set for deportation from Libya, beginning from August 10.

She had said the deportees would be brought back to Nigeria in three batches.

Thousands of Nigerians have been flown back from Libya, with some voluntarily returning with the help of the International Organisation for Migration.