Boma Achenimie 
No fewer than 298 stranded Nigerians in Libya have been repatriated back to the country in separate chartered flights early this week.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA ) who disclosed this on Tuesday said the returnees were sent back to the nation directly from Libyan jails.
On August 21, 2023, 161 passengers returned on the first flight, while 137 passengers returned on the second flight, which landed in the early hours on Monday, the agency said.
Speaking further, it added that the majority of the returnees were reported to have spent differing amounts of time in various jail facilities throughout the unrest-ridden North African nation.
From the profile of the returnees, there are 119 female adults, the majority of whom are pregnant, three female children, and two female babies, while there are 170 male adults, three male children, and one male infant among the male returnees.
Under the Migrants’ Protection and Assistance Programme, their return was made possible by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations (UN).
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The returnees who arrived yesterday were transported back on a Boeing 737-800 operated by Al Buraq Air with the registration number 5A-DMG. The aircraft landed at the cargo area of Ikeja’s Murtala Muhammad International Airport (MMIA) at around 5:38 p.m.
Our correspondent discovered that the returnees who were apprehended while attempting to escape into Europe via the Mediterranean Sea spent months in a Libyan detention facility before good fortune intervened and they were allowed to return home.
“They all came back into the country with sad tales of bitter experiences in Libyan Prisons,” said NEMA Lagos State Territorial Coordinator, Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye.
Two of the returnees who talked to our correspondent upon their arrival at the airport claimed that they had been misled into believing that they would be travelling by road to Libya after being promised employment in Cairo, Egypt.
