Federal Government Receives 103 Nigerians Deported from Turkey
The Federal Government has received 103 Nigerians deported from Turkey due to migration-related issues such as expired visas and irregular migration. The deportees were received on Friday evening in Abuja.
Alhaji Tijani Ahmed, the Federal Commissioner of the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), disclosed this during the deportees’ profiling.
Represented by Amb. Catherine Udida, the Director of Migration Affairs at the commission, Ahmed noted that although 110 deportees were expected, only 103, all males, arrived.
“Some of them have been in the deportation camp for some months, and now that they are here, we are hoping to follow up on all the allegations gathered in their profiling,” Ahmed stated.
He emphasized that the commission would review the profiling forms, especially concerning claims that Turkish authorities had seized the deportees’ passports.
“We are going to follow up with the Turkish authority because the passports are still the property of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he assured.
Ahmed reiterated that the NCFRMI is the mandate agency responsible for all returnees, regardless of their status.
“We equally have a programme where we train them and thereafter reintegrate them into society,” he added.
Similarly, Mr. Bashir Garga, the North-Central Zonal Coordinator for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), assured the returnees of the government’s readiness to support them through the collaborative efforts of all relevant agencies.
One of the deportees, Mr. Arinze Stone, shared his experience, stating that he had been arrested and detained by Turkish authorities for about six months.
