Gale of deportation as South Africa returns 97 Nigerians

The deportation of Nigerians from many countries of the world is assuming an alarming proportion as 97 Nigerians were  deported from South Africa for civil and criminal offences.

Six of the deportees were returned into the country for drug offences; 10 were arrested and deported for criminal offences while others committed immigration offences in the Southern African country.

The deportees comprising males and females arrived Murtala Muhammed International Airport at night on Monday with a chartered aircraft with the registration number GBB710 from Johannesburg, South Africa.

The deportees are 95 males and two females. Those deported for drug and criminal offences were immediately handed over to police for further prosecution while others with civil cases were left to go home after proofing by the officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) at the airport.

A top official of Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos who spoke to New Telegraph under strict condition of anonymity said the deportees actually arrived very late on Monday from Johannesburg, South Africa.

Over 500 Nigerians has been deported in the past one month. Just last week, 171 Nigerians were returned from Libya.

The Libyan returnees were brought back courtesy of the Federal Government and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

A week earlier, 161 Nigerians were returned by IOM which facilitated the return of the Nigerians explained that the 162 Nigerians “had voluntarily agreed to be brought back to Nigeria.”

“No one deported them; they just agreed voluntarily to return to Nigeria based on the unfriendly conditions they found themselves in Libya,” said head of IOM Office in Lagos, Mr. Nahashan Thuo.

“We brought them back in liaison with the Nigerian Embassy in Libya and we will do everything possible to reunite them with their families. We are giving each of them 50 pounds which would be converted to naira to assist them financially,” he added.

Just on Monday night, 41 Nigerian girls who were victims of human trafficking to Europe were returned  to the country .

They arrived the Murtala Muhammed International Airport , Lagos aboard a Hercules C-130 military transport aircraft with registration number Nigerian Air Force 913.

The aircraft landed at the Nigerian Air Force Hangar wing of the Lagos Airport about 7. 50 pm .The deportation of the girls, was a fall out of collaboration between the Ministry of Defence , Nigerian Air Force, Office of the Senior Assistant to the President on Diaspora, and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) which evacuated the girls from Bamako, the Malian capital.

Some of the young ladies scantily dressed were grumbling as they were photographed while alighting from the military transport aircraft .

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Diaspora, Abika Dabiri – Erewa said their evacuation was made possible with assistance from the Chief of Defence Staff, Nigerian Air Force, NAPTIP and relevant agencies of government.

Dabiri-Erewa said their return home was part of directive from President Buhari, who insisted that Nigerians stranded anywhere in te world should be assisted to return home .

She urged the returnees to make the best use of their lives as there was nothing tangible they were doing in Mali.

She said there were many Nigerians that are stranded in Mali, who should be brought home.

Wole Shadare