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491 Out Of 5027 Libyan Returnees Arrive P\/Harcourt Airport<\/p>\n491 Out Of 5027 Libyan Returnees Arrive P\/Harcourt Airport<\/p>\n
FILE PHOTO:\u00a0Abike Dabiri-Erewa\u200f\u00a0 arrived PH . With 491 Libyan returnees<\/p>\n
No fewer than 491 out of 5,027 Nigerian returnees from Libya arrived in Port Harcourt Airport on Sunday. They arrived at about 4.55 p.m.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/nigerianews.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/DStiELJW4Ag540g.jpg\")
One of the detention centers in Libya where African migrants are kept. Nigeria government official met Nigerians in Libya yearning to going home. And home they will return to in a couple of days.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/nigerianews.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/DSq9lGZW4AADrju.jpg\")
Fact finding team on Libya led by the MFA@GeoffreyOnyeama meeting with officials at Tetsura detention camp in Tripoli. \u00a0They met over 600 Nigerians detained here<\/p>\n
Nigeria is starting flights to evacuate thousands of its citizens from Libya which will continue until all those wanting to return home have done so, its foreign minister said on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Nigerians have recently been the largest national group among African migrants travelling to Libya and trying to cross from there to Italy by sea.<\/p>\n
Since local armed factions and Libya\u2019s coastguard began blocking more migrants from leaving in July last year, large numbers have been trapped in Libya, where they often face dire conditions and abuse, including forced labour.<\/p>\n
The International Organization for Migration (IOM<\/span>) has in recent months accelerated a \u201cvoluntary returns\u201d programme to repatriate migrants from a number of countries. Nigeria now joins Niger in organising bilateral returns.<\/p>\n \u201cThe main objective, and we\u2019re very focused on that objective, is to get these Nigerian citizens back home as quickly as possible,\u201d Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyema told reporters during a visit to Tripoli.<\/p>\n \u201dOur president has made available all the resources necessary to repatriate all the Nigerians here.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have two planes arriving today and God willing we are hoping to evacuate anything up to 800 Nigerians today.\u201d<\/p>\n Nigeria had been expecting to fly back about 5,500 migrants, Onyema said, but the situation on the ground made the actual number hard to ascertain.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of the difficulties with getting precise numbers is that some are within the control of the central government in camps, some are clearly outside the camps, some are also in less accessible areas where there might not be full central government control and authority,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Facilitating voluntary returns could also be complicated by lack of access, Onyema said. Criminals involved in smuggling and trafficking migrants \u201calso (have) an interest that a number of them should not be repatriated, because these represent economic assets for them\u201d.<\/p>\n Libya has been in turmoil since a 2011 uprising, with rival governments and armed factions vying for power. Onyema was hosted by the internationally recognised government in Tripoli, which has struggled to assert its authority on the ground.<\/p>\n Slightly fewer than half as many migrants reached Europe by sea in 2017 than 2016, the IOM<\/span> said on Friday, largely due to a drop in numbers crossing from Libya.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 491 Out Of 5027 Libyan Returnees Arrive P\/Harcourt Airport FILE PHOTO:\u00a0Abike Dabiri-Erewa\u200f\u00a0 arrived PH . With 491 Libyan returnees No fewer than 491 out of 5,027 Nigerian returnees from Libya arrived in Port Harcourt Airport on Sunday. They arrived at about 4.55 p.m. One of the detention centers in Libya where African migrants are kept. 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