On Tuesday, the Nigerian Federal Government, in collaboration with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), evacuated 161 Nigerian migrants stranded in Libya.
Ambassador Kabiru Musa, Chargé D’Affaires En Titre of the Nigerian Mission in Libya, stated in Abuja that the objective of the Voluntary Humanitarian Repatriation (VHR) exercise was to ensure that Nigerians were not stranded abroad.
“The evacuees departed the Mitiga International Airport, Tripoli, aboard a chartered flight on Tuesday. The evacuees are 100 adult females, 37 adult males, 16 children, and eight infants. They will be received by officials on arrival to facilitate their resettlement and reintegration into society,” Musa said.
He stressed that the Nigerian Government “would not relent in its efforts to ensure that no Nigerian is left stranded or abandoned in detention facilities in Libya.”
In September, more than 160 stranded Nigerians were repatriated from Libya.
According to Musa, the evacuees were Nigerians who were trapped in Libya.
He said the repatriation came less than a week after 155 migrants were voluntarily evacuated, assuring of the government’s commitment to ensure no citizen was left abandoned abroad.
Earlier, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced that approximately 186,000 individuals have successfully reached Europe via the Mediterranean this year.
Ruven Menikdiwela, the Head of UNHCR’s New York office, informed the Security Council that about 130,000 of these arrivals were registered in Italy. This number represents an 83% increase compared to the same period in the previous year. Tragically, more than 2,500 individuals have been reported missing or deceased since the beginning of the year.