The Federal Government has successfully repatriated 158 irregular Nigerian migrants from Libya. This was announced by Nigeria’s Charge’ d’ Affaires to Libya, Ambassador Mohammed Mohammed, in a statement on Wednesday.
The group of returnees includes 77 males, 45 females, 26 children, and 10 infants. Among them, 26 males were released from Abu-Salim Detention Centre in Tripoli, where they had been held due to ongoing raids targeting undocumented foreigners in Libya.
To date, a total of 1,776 stranded Nigerians have been repatriated from Libya through collaborative efforts between the Nigerian mission and Libyan authorities, under the International Organisation for Migration’s (IOM) Voluntary Humanitarian Repatriation (VHR) program.
“This marks the 12th evacuation exercise carried out by the Nigerian Mission in Libya this year,” Mohammed noted. The current exercise follows the repatriation of 142 irregular Nigerian migrants from Sabha, Libya, on July 19.
Some of the evacuees were rescued from the Mediterranean Sea by the Libyan Coastal Guards, while others were arrested on charges including prostitution, illegal entry, overstaying, and lack of proper documentation. Others voluntarily sought assistance from the IOM for repatriation.
Ambassador Mohammed highlighted that the reputations of Nigerians in Libya have been marred by criminal activities such as kidnapping for ransom, drug peddling, prostitution, sale of alcohol, cultism, and human trafficking, often in collaboration with Libyan nationals. Consequently, the arrest and deportation of Nigerians in Libya are expected to continue in the near future.
The envoy urged Nigerians to avoid irregular migration, noting the increasing and coordinated raids on illegal migrants across Libyan cities. Libyan authorities consider the influx of illegal migrants a national security issue and have vowed to take all necessary legal measures to address the problem.
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