The Nation Newspaper

Tag: deportees

  • 16 Libya deportees pregnant

    16 Libya deportees pregnant

    Sixteen of the 169 Libya deportees received by the Edo State government are pregnant.

    Many of the girls refused to speak with reporters and some had little children with them.

    Last week, the Edo State government took delivery of 84 indigenes deported from Libya.

    Governor Godwin Obaseki offered to train them in vocational skills, and pay them monthly stipends.

    Some of the girls lamented their unjust treatment in Libya, saying some were walking in the streets when they were arrested and deported.

    Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice Prof. Yinka Omorogbe said this batch of deportees were women and children, with only one male adult.

    She said the government was highlighting the evil of trafficking to the deportees.

    “The idea is that Edo wants to eradicate trafficking in persons and stem the illegal migration. If you want to travel, do it legally. We are worried about what the people go through when they decided to travel to Libya illegally.

    “The government is taking the problem as its own; we are interested in those who will partner the government to address the issue. As we have seen, 80 per cent of these illegal migrants are from Edo State, so it has been a big challenge to us.

    “We are trying to assist them to be re-integrated into the society. Those who want to go back to school would be encouraged to do so while those who desire skill will be trained.

    One of the returnees, Joseph Faith, described her experience as horrible, saying she would have remained in Nigeria if she was employed.

    She wants to go back to school to study English.

  • 34 Nigerians deported from Belgium, Germany, four others

    34 Nigerians deported from Belgium, Germany, four others

    34 Nigerians were on Thursday deported from six European countries for committing immigration-related offences.

    The affected individuals were from Austria, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Iceland and Switzerland.

    The deportees arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMlA), Lagos, at 6: 30 a.m. on Thursday.

    They were brought back in a chartered Airblue Panorama aircraft.

    The deportees comprised 32 males and two females.

    The Spokesman of the Lagos Airport Police Command, DSP Joseph Alabi, confirmed the development.

    He said: “This (Thursday) morning, we received 34 Nigerians who were brought back from Europe. They comprised 32 males and two females.”

    He said the deportees allegedly committed immigration-related offences in their host countries.

    Alabi said the deportees were received by officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and the police.

    “Also on ground to receive them were officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA),” the police spokesman added.

    The deportees were profiled by immigration authorities and allowed to depart to their various destinations.

  • ‘Stop dumping deportees in Nigeria’

    ‘Stop dumping deportees in Nigeria’

    The Federal Government has warned other West African countries to stop dumping deportees in Nigeria.

    Interior Minister Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazzau (retd) spoke yesterday in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, while reacting to the dumping of deportees from West African countries.

    He said the government would impound any vessel which dumps deportees at any Nigerian seaport.

    Dambazzau was represented by the Comptroller of Immigration in the Cross River State Command, Funke Adeuyi, at the evacuation of men, women and children from various West African countries, allegedly deported from Gabon and dumped in Calabar.

    The deportees were reportedly dumped in Calabar when their ship developed problems on the high seas.

    The minister said other punitive measures, including seizure of such vessels and payment of fines – as stipulated in the ECOWAS charter – would be imposed on erring countries.

    Adeuyi said: “Nigeria will no more tolerate this because of the security implications. I’m here on behalf of the Minister of Interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdurahaman Danbazzau (retd), through the comptroller-general of Immigration, to warn that this should be the last time these categories of deportees would be allowed to transit through Nigerian land borders or ports.

    “No Gabonese or any Central or West African government should repeat this or ever contemplate this type of unacceptable situation.

    “Any country that brings these categories of deportees to Nigeria will face the penalty, including impounding of their vessels. Nigeria has a new policy on this type of issue. I am here to reiterate that severe actions will be taken by the government, should this continue.”

    The Consul General of Republic of Senegal, Babacar Mbodi, on behalf of ambassadors, whose nationals were among the deportees, hailed the Nigeria for safely keeping the deportees.

    He said arrangements had been concluded to take the deportees to their countries through the Seme border.

    The envoy pledged that his country would comply with the Federal Government’s policy.

  • 12,000 Nigerian deportees return from Cameroon

    About 12,000 Nigerians said to have been deported from Cameroon after fleeing Boko Haram jihadists have begun returning home, authorities in Abuja said yesterday. Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said it had received 1,121 of the returnees at the Sahuda border post in  Adamawa State.

    A senior official in Abuja with knowledge of the repatriations told reporters the refugees had been expelled, although there was no immediate confirmation from Cameroonian authorities. “They are not coming on their own, they were pushed out of Cameroon,” he said, on condition of anonymity, adding that the number of expulsions was expected to rise to 17,000.

    NEMA said 650 of the returnees had been transported to Borno State while the rest remained at a camp for internally displaced people in Adamawa’s State capital, Yola. “In the meantime, NEMA is providing food and non-food items as well as medical facilities to cater for the returnees at the border while awaiting the conclusion of the immigration and security screening,” the government agency said in a statement.

    “Arrangements have also been concluded to locate the returnees to a new camp in Fufore, Adamawa state, for proper care.”  Security sources and local media said last week Cameroon had deported more than 2,000 Nigerians living in the country illegally as part of new security measures intended to prevent Boko Haram suicide attacks.

    The deportations came just a day after Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari visited Cameroon for talks on how to combat the escalating regional threat from Boko Haram. Buhari and his Cameroonian counterpart Paul Biya pledged to strengthen cooperation between their two countries in the fight against the insurgents.

    Between July 12 and July 25, Cameroon’s far north, on the border with Boko Haram’s Nigerian strongholds, suffered three suicide attacks — two in the regional capital, Maroua — leaving at least 44 people dead. The Cameroonian border post at Kousseri — which has been hit by two suicide attacks since June — occupies a strategic position, with just a bridge separating it from Chad’s capital N’Djamena.

    Boko Haram’s bloody insurgency in Nigeria has left more than 15,000 people dead since 2009 and has increasingly spread across the country’s borders, with Chad and Cameroon suffering deadly suicide bombings in recent months.

  • Deportees: Nigerien soldiers drove us out

    Deportees: Nigerien soldiers drove us out

    The Nigerians from the Republic of Niger have said they were chased out by the Nigerien soldiers.

    But the National Emergency Agency (NEMA) said they were evacuated by the government of Niger Republic.

    NEMA also said it had recorded over 6,000 Nigerians fleeing Niger to Nigeria.

    NEMA’s Director of Search and Rescue Operation, Air Commodore Charles Otegbade, spoke with our correspondent at Geidam in Yobe State, from where the fleeing citizens were entering Nigeria.

    He said: “We are here in Geidam for an operation and the operation essentially started from a report we received from the Government of Niger Republic that some of our citizens living in some of the Island of the Nigerien portion of the Lake Chad and Nigerians displaced by insurgents to that areas should be evacuated.

    “The need arose because the Nigerien government wanted to conduct military operations in those areas. They offered to relocate the Nigerians to some of the Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDPs’) camps within Niger. But the people chose to come back home. So, the Nigerien government decided to move them to Nigeria.

  • 80 Nigerian deportees arrive from Saudi Arabia

    80 Nigerian deportees arrive from Saudi Arabia

    The first batch of 80 Nigerians repatriated from Saudi Arabia arrived yesterday at the Nnamid Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the deportees arrived in the country on board an Ethiopian Airline plane about noon.

    Mr Daniel Obot, the Assistant Director of Relief and Rehabilitation of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), told reporters at the airport that the deportees were among 508 Nigerians residing illegally in Saudi Arabia.

    He said the Federal Government approved their repatriation after they voluntarily agreed to return home, adding that they would be handed over to officials of their state emergency management agencies after due clearance.

    Also, the Director of Consular and Immigration Services in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Abdulazeez Dan-Kano, tolf reporters that the 80 deportees were from eight states across Nigeria.

    Dan-Kano said 31 of them were from Kano State, 19 from Borno, three from Bauchi and eight from Jigawa.

    He said seven others were from Yobe, two from Plateau, nine from Katsina and one from Nasarawa.

    The director explained that those deported were mainly women, children and the sick.

    He said more deportees were expected to arrive in the country today.