129 stranded Nigerians return from Niger

One hundred and twenty-nine Nigerians stranded at Agadez, Niger Republic have returned to the country.

The returnees were received by the Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Kano Territorial Office, Dr Nuradeen Abdullahi, in Kano State on Saturday.

Abdullahi, who disclosed the figure of the returnees, said they arrived in Kano in three luxury buses organised by the International Organisation on Migration.

“The returnees were brought back through a voluntary repatriation programme for those who left Nigeria to seek greener pastures in various European countries but could not get to their destinations and became frustrated,” he stated.

The coordinator added that the returnees included 125 males, two female,s and two toddlers.

He noted that the returnees are from different parts of Nigeria; some from Kano, Gombe, and Anambra states.

He added that they would be trained for four days to be self-reliant and would be given grants to start new lives.

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The returnees were given toiletries and clothes and fed on arrival.

One of them, Ummi Aliyu from Kano State, a widow, and mother of nine, said she travelled with two of her kids up Algeria for greener pasture.

“I am a widow; that was why I left my seven other children in Nigeria to travel outside the country to get enough money to take good care of them,” NAN quoted Aliyu as saying.

Another returnee, James Kelechi from Anambra, said he operated a medicine store before he left Nigeria in search of greener pasture.

“My business was not moving fine; that was why I decided to travel to Italy in search of greener pasture,” he said.

The Star