The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has said it had received 104 stranded Nigerians from N’Djamena, Chad Republic, at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano.
The Coordinator of the Kano Territorial Office of the agency, Dr Nuradeen Abdullahi announced this while receiving the returnees yesterday in Kano.
Represented by Suleiman Sa’ad-Abubakar, the Head of Human Resources at NEMA Kano, Abdullahi said the returnees arrived at the airport around 2:15 pm.
The coordinator said the returnees were transported to Nigeria by SKY MALI Airlines, operated by Ethiopian Airline B737-500 with registration number UR-CQX.
He said the returnees comprised 34 males, 18 females, and 52 children who hailed from Kano, Katsina, Borno, Akwa Ibom, and Yobe states.
“The returnees were brought back under the care of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) from N’Djamena through a voluntary repatriation programme.
“The programme is for the distressed who had left the country to seek greener pastures in European countries and could not afford to return when their journey became frustrated,” Abdullahi said.
According to him, the government will train the returnees under a skill acquisition programme to enable them to learn vocations and become self-reliant to fast-track their integration into society.
The coordinator urged the returnees to be law-abiding, saying Nigerians need to shun illegal migration and avoid endangering their lives by travelling to seek for greener pastures elsewhere.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the agency received 444 stranded Nigerians from Niamey, Niger Republic, between February and April 2023.
