Libyan government deports 172 Nigerians

The spate of deportation of Nigerians continued this morning as one hundred and sixty six males (166) and six females (6), were deported from Libya by the country’s  authorities over several immigration irregularities.

The 172 deportees arrived the hajj camp area of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport around 7:00am.

Ekpedeme King, Public Relations Officer, Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS,  confirmed the deportation with our correspondent on phone, but could not give the registration number of the aircraft that brought them into the country.

NFD learnt from a reliable source that the deportees were repatriated into the country with chartered aircraft from Libya.

They were received by various agencies such as Immigration that checked their identities to ascertain their nationalities, Police, National Agency for Protection and Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, and other relevant stakeholders.

As at the time of filing this report, the returnees had moved away from the Lagos Airport to their various destinations.

King told our correspondent that the deportees were returned to the country for overstaying their visas in Libya and other immigration offences in the North African country.

He said, “What I can tell you is that some Nigerians were deported today (yesterday) for immigration offences. Most of those brought overstayed Libya.

One of the deportees, who simply identified himself as Chris claimed that he travelled out of Nigeria about two years ago in search of greener pastures.

He however insisted that he didn’t commit any crime in Libya that would warrant his deportation back to Nigeria.

Last November, about 76 Nigerians were deported from three European countries including United Kingdom.

Ifeoma Okeke