The Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said on Friday the Federal Government would evacuate 600 Nigerian irregular migrants from Saudi Arabia next week.
Dabiri-Erewa, who disclosed this on her Twitter handle, said the returnees would be airlifted to Nigeria in two batches.
400 returnees, according to her, will be evacuated to Nigeria on January 28 and the remaining 200 at least 24 hours later.
The NiDCOM chief said the evacuation of the Nigerians was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that the citizens were being kept in a detention facility by Saudi authorities pending their repatriation.
She said: “Nigerian irregular migrants in Saudi Arabia are due to be evacuated on January 28 and 29, pending any unforeseen issues. Their evacuation was delayed due to issues relating to COVID-19. We appeal to Nigerians to resist traveling abroad without proper documents.”
