9,822 Nigerians have been assisted back to the country by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
The South West Zonal Coordinator of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Alhaji Yakubu Suleiman, has said 9,822 Nigerians have been assisted back to the country by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
He stated this while receiving another batch of 153 returnees on Friday, noting that the Nigerians were assisted back home in the space of 18 months and from 10 different countries.
He said 215 of the women returned under various stages of pregnancy while while 214 males and 141 females had various degree of medical challenges.
According to NAN, the new batch of returnees arrived at the cargo wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos at 1:05am, on Friday.
He said majority of the returnees were from Libya with about 8,657 as voluntary returnees, while others were brought back from Niger, Mali, Morocco, Liberia, Burkina Faso, France, Ireland, Austria and Poland.
Suleiman explained that IOM had been working with NEMA and other federal agencies towards giving the returnees appropriate humanitarian assistance since the exercise started.
According to the NEMA coordinator, the returnees were brought back between April 2017 and September 2018.
He said: “The IOM analysis of the exercise reveals that out of the total figure, 59 per cent of the returnees are male and 41 per cent are female.
“Further analysis shows that out of the above, 57 per cent are adult males; adult females consisted of 37 per cent; minor males are three per cent, and minor females are also three per cent,” he said.
He also disclosed was that there were 59 males and 52 females, who were unaccompanied minors, while about 24 males and 174 females needed psychosocial first aid.