Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano
The Kano territorial office of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has received 105 stranded Nigerians from Chad Republic at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, on Monday’s night.
The Kano Territorial Coordinator of NEMA, Dr. Nuradeen Abdullahi, told reporters yesterday that the returnees arrived at the international wing of the airport with Boeing 737-7k9 ASKY Airlines operated by Ethiopian Airlines KP9401 with registration number ET-ANH.
According to him, “the returnees were brought back to Kano under the care of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) from Chad through a voluntary repatriation programme.
“The program was meant for the distressed Nigerians who had left the country to seek greener pastures in various European countries and could not afford to return when their journey became frustrated.”
“The returnees included 24 male adults, 23 female adults and 58 children.
“The returnees are from Katsina, Kano, Adamawa, Maiduguri, Yobe and Taraba States among others”
He explained that the returnees would be trained for four days on vocational skills and would be given a grant capital to become self-reliant.
He, therefore, urged the returnees to be ambassadors and advocates against irregular migration and called on Nigerians to avoid endangering their lives by travelling for greener pastures in other countries, adding that no country is better than our country Nigeria.
He noted that the agency received 560 stranded Nigerians in the past two months from Niger Republic and Sudan that were trained on various skills acquisition.
One of the returnees said that he travelled to Libya to seek greener pastures because he was an orphan and his sick mother could not cater for the family.
He said: “My father died three years ago and things have not been easy for the family, so I decided to seek greener pastures.
“During my stay in Libya for two years, my friend that we travelled with was kidnapped.
“We suffered a lot and I decided to go back to Chad because I was scared of being kidnapped too. It was only the grace of God that brought me back.”
Another returnee, a mother of two from Borno State, said she travelled to Chad for three years to seek greener pastures with her two kids.
“There was no peace in my village Gambarun Gana. Boko Haram did not let us stay because everyone was scared for his life. So, I travelled to Chad for greener pastures.
“I did dry cleaning service and other home service jobs. But things were no longer easy that is why I decided to come back to my country since there is now peace.”
ThisDay