The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Monday received 708 stranded Nigerians from Niamey, Niger Republic.
The Head of Operations at NEMA’s Kano Office, Dr Nura Abdullahi, disclosed this while briefing newsmen shortly after welcoming the returnees at Malam Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano for profiling.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the returnees, transported in 12 luxurious buses, arrived at about 4:08 pm and are currently undergoing physical verification.
The group comprised 292 male adults and children and 416 female adults and children from various states, including Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Benue, Borno, Yobe, Zamfara, Kaduna, Kogi, and Niger State.
Abdullahi said the returnees were brought back through the efforts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He added that the returnees have been fed, and arrangements made for temporary shelter.
“They have also been given blankets, mosquito nets and dignity kits containing toiletries, wrappers, sanitary pads and other essentials. By tomorrow morning, after necessary profiling, they will be transported to their respective states,” Abdullahi said.
He noted that medical personnel from the Nigeria Red Cross were on site to treat returnees who were sick, with severe cases referred to appropriate state health facilities. He advised the public and Nigerian youths to avoid endangering their lives by travelling abroad in search of greener pastures.
Also speaking, Kano Field Coordinator of the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), Hajiya Luba Liman, described the operation as a “whole-of-government approach” to evacuate stranded Nigerians.
She said the evacuation was facilitated by the Federal Government in collaboration with the Nigerian Embassy in Niamey and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “This is a voluntary return. Many of them could not afford to come back on their own, so the government arranged for their evacuation,” Liman explained.
One of the returnees, Malam Kamalu Abdullahi from Kaduna State, recounted living in Niamey for 12 years before violence forced him to flee. “I woke up one morning, hearing people shouting ‘fire, fire’. My house and those of other Nigerians were set ablaze. When I came out, I was attacked and told to leave the country,” he said, commending the Federal Government for their assistance and vowing not to return to Niger.
Rabi’a Inusa, a mother of three from Jigawa, shared her experience, saying family challenges led her to travel to Niamey with two of her children, where she spent five months in hardship. “My husband in Nigeria sold our house and threw my belongings on the street. I decided to travel to Algeria to seek greener pastures to rent a house in Nigeria and provide for my children. I was sleeping on the streets. I was directed to a camp for voluntary returnees. I spent over N100,000 on transport when I was travelling to Niamey and returned home with nothing,” she said.
NAN reports that many of the returnees, mostly women and children, appeared unkempt and distressed on arrival. Representatives of NEMA, the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and IDPs, Kano SEMA Executive Secretary Alhaji Isyaku Abdullahi-Kubarachi, and the Nigeria Immigration Service, among other stakeholders, were on hand to receive the returnees.