One hundred and fifty two Nigerians stranded and living as illegal immigrants in Libya have been evacuated to Nigeria.
The Nigerians whose return was facilitated under the Federal Government/International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Voluntary Repatriation exercise, arrived at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, on Tuesday evening.
“Today, we have successfully evacuated another 152 Nigerians stranded in Libya to Nigeria”, Ambassador Kabiru Musa, Charge D’affiares en titre of the Nigerian Mission in Libya said in a statement.
Ambassador Musa explained that this was the third exercise the Federal Government and IOM carried out in 2023, with a successful evacuation of nearly 500 Nigerians stranded in Libya to Nigeria.
“Libya is a transit country for irregular migrants to the Western and other parts of the world. Whenever these irregular migrants can no longer continue their journey to their expected destinations, they become stranded here.
Because of their status as undocumented immigrants, they become vulnerable to exploitation and degrading treatment, including forced labour and prostitution”.
Ambassador Musa said.
About 4,000 stranded Nigerians from Libya were evacuated to Nigeria in 2022.
Writing by Muzha Kucha; Editing by Adeniyi Bakare