IOM hands over 144 returnees to NEMA

National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has received no fewer than 144 Nigerians from Niger Republic.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) handed over the returnees to the agency at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano.

NEMA Kano Head of Human Resources, Sulaiman Abubakar, who represented the Coordinator, made the disclosure, while receiving the returnees, said those repatriated include 106 males, 16 females and 22 children from Abia, Kano, Edo, Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto, among others.

He said the affected Nigerians were brought back by IOM through a voluntary repatriation programme.

Abubakar explained that the programme was for the distressed and stranded, which had left to seek greener pastures in various European countries, but could not afford to return when their journey became frustrated.

He added that the returnees would be trained in various skills acquisition programmes and given startup capital to become self-reliant.

One of them, a widow and mother of two, Fatima Muhammed, said she travelled to Algeria and regretted embarking on the ill-fated trip.

“No one to cater for me and my children, that was why I decided to leave the country for Niger Republic,” she lamented.