The National Emergency Management Agency on Monday received 708 stranded Nigerians from Niamey.
The Head of Operations, NEMA Kano Office, Dr Nura Abdullahi, made this known while briefing newsmen shortly after receiving the returnees at Aminu Kano International Airport for profiling.
It was reported that the returnees, conveyed in 12 luxury buses, arrived at about 4:08 p.m. and are currently undergoing physical verification.
The returnees comprised 292 male adults and children, and 416 female adults and children from different parts of Nigeria, particularly Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Benue, Borno, Yobe, Zamfara, Kaduna, Kogi, and Niger states.
Abdullahi said the returnees were brought back by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He added that the returnees have been fed and arrangements have been 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 Nigerian Red Cross Society are on ground to provide treatment for sick returnees, while severe cases will be referred to appropriate state health facilities.
He advised the general public, especially Nigerian youths, to avoid endangering their lives by travelling in search of greener pastures in other countries.
Also speaking, the Kano Field Coordinator of the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, Hajiya Luba Liman, described the exercise 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 said.
Recounting their ordeals, one of the returnees, Malam Kamalu Abdullahi from Kaduna State, said he had lived 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.
He commended the Federal Government for providing shelter and facilitating their return to Nigeria, stressing that he would not go back to Niger even if given financial incentives.
Rabi’a Inusa, a mother of three from Jigawa, said family challenges pushed 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, so I could 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 travelling to Niamey and returned home with nothing,” she said.
It was reported that many of the returnees, mostly women and children, appeared unkempt and distressed on arrival.
Representatives of NEMA, NCFRMI, Kano State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), led by its Executive Secretary, Isyaku Abdullahi-Kubarachi and the Nigeria Immigration Service, among other stakeholders, were on ground to receive the returnees.
