The National Emergency Management Agency on Monday received 708 stranded Nigerians from Niamey, the Niger Republic, at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano.
The returnees, conveyed in 12 luxurious buses, arrived at about 4:08 pm and are currently undergoing physical verification and profiling.
Head of Operations, NEMA Kano Office, Dr. Nura Abdullahi, said the returnees comprised 292 male adults and children and 416 female adults and children from different parts of Nigeria, including Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Benue, Borno, Yobe, Zamfara, Kaduna, Kogi, and Niger states.
He said the returnees were brought back by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and have been fed, with arrangements made for temporary shelter.
“They have also been given blankets, mosquito nets and dignity kits containing toiletries, wrappers, sanitary pads and other essentials,” Abdullahi said.
“By tomorrow morning, after necessary profiling, they will be transported to their respective states.”
Abdullahi noted that medical personnel from the Nigerian Red Cross were on the ground to provide treatment for sick returnees, while severe cases would be referred to appropriate state health facilities.
He advised the general public and Nigerian youths to avoid endangering their lives by travelling to seek greener pastures in other countries.
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.
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, stressing that he would not return to Niger even if offered financial incentives.
Rabi’a Inusa, a mother of three from Jigawa, said family challenges pushed her into travelling to Niamey with two of her children, where she spent five months in hardship.
“I was sleeping on the streets. I was directed to a camp for voluntary returnees. I spent over N100,000 on transport when I was travelling to Niamey and returned home with nothing,” she said.
Many of the returnees, mostly women and children, appeared unkempt and distressed on arrival. Representatives of NEMA, the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and IDPs, Kano SEMA, and the Nigeria Immigration Service were on the ground to receive them.
