About 144 stranded Nigerians have returned from Niamey in Niger Republic through the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano State where they were received on Monday by officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
While receiving the returnees, NEMA’s Kano Head of Human Resources, Suleiman Sa’ad-Abubakar, who was represented by the agency’s Coordinator Kano Territorial Office, Nuradeen Abdullahi, noted that the returnees arrived at the airport at about 2:30pm on Monday, adding that the exercise was facilitated by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) from Niamey through a voluntary repatriation programme.
According to him, “The returnees were transported into Nigeria by SKY MALI Airlines, operated by Ethiopian airline B737-400 with registration number UR-CQX”.
“The program was for the distressed, who had left the country to seek greener pastures in various European countries and could not afford to return when their journey became frustrated”.
Abdullahi noted that the returnees, comprising106 male adults, 16 female adults and 22 children (10 females and 12 males), are from different parts of the country such as Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Abia, Sokoto and Edo, among other states.
While adding that they would be trained on various skill acquisition programs that will integrate them back to the society and provide them with seed capital to enable them to be self-reliant, he advised Nigerians to avoid endangering their lives by travelling to seek greener pastures in other countries, stressing that no country is better than Nigeria.
