The Federal
Government, yesterday, enlisted the services of Med-View Airlines in its plan
to repatriate 5,037 Nigerians stranded in Libya.An agreement to that effect was
signed at the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) headquarters in
Abuja, with officials of Med-View and NEMA strategising on the operations set
to begin in January 2018.
Meanwhile,
another batch of 134 Nigerians arrived from Libya late Friday, courtesy of
assistance from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the
European Union (EU).
It would be
recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari recently constituted a 17-man
committee to aid the evacuation of 5,037 Nigerians from the war-torn North
African country.
Minister of
Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama heads the 17-man team.† Med-ViewÃs Executive
Director, Business Development and Commercial, Isiaq NaÃAllah, shortly after
signing the partnership agreement, commended the decision to enlist local
carriers in the plan.
The Guardian
learnt that given the huge number involved, the services of another Nigerian
carrier would be enlisted to complement Med-ViewÃs capacity.As part of the
arrival plans, the Federal Government has established a reception centre in
Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, to be managed by the zonal coordinator
of NEMA, to receive the returnees.
The
government, it was learnt, is also to hold talks with some state governors on
reintegration programmes for their indigenes. A large fraction of the Libyan
returnees are from Edo and Delta States.The 134 Libyan returnees arrived aboard
BURAQ Airlines Boeing 737-800 with registration number 5A-DMG. Among the
voluntary returnees are 10 adult females, 123 adult males, one infant and a
medical case.IOM and EU have repatriated no fewer than 6,000 this year alone.
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