At least 122 stranded Nigerians comprising 52 males, 39 females seven of whom were rescued victims of human trafficking, 21 children as well as 10 infants have been evacuated from Libya.
This brings the total number of stranded Nigerians in Libya who have been assisted to return home in 2024 alone to 1,350.
In 2023, the International Organization for Migration, IOM, assisted no fewer than 2,041 stranded Nigerian migrants to return home.
The evacuees would depart around 1.30pm, Libyan local time from Mitiga International Airport aboard a chartered flight and are expected at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos by 5 pm.
According to official sources, Tuesday’s evacuation, conducted in collaboration with the IOM in Libya as part of its Voluntary Humanitarian Repatriation, VHR, programme, was the ninth carried out by the Nigerian Mission in the country this year.
Speaking in Tripoli, Libya, during the evacuation, Nigeria’s newly-posted Charge’ d’Affaires en-titre to Libya, Mohammed Mohammed advised Nigerians to shun irregular migrations to foreign lands.
Mohammed warned that most of such irregular migrations usually end up in slavery and sexual exploitations in Europe.
The envoy said that migrations that follow due process are allowed but advised Nigerians to always ponder well before embarking on the risk of the ill-advised journey across the desert.
