He said efforts to claim the rest of the money that would enable him set up a business and take care of his family had been futile as the IOM officials continued to give various excuses.
Some officials of the International Organisation for Migration in Ikeja, Lagos State, an agency of the United Nations, have refused to release the entire money approved by the Italian government to help a Nigerian returnee, Ikhuehi Amosco, settle properly with his family in the country.
SaharaReporters learnt that out of a total of N10million approved as assistance and reintegration fund for Amosco, IOM officials in Lagos allegedly released items worth only N1.5million to him.
According to the 69-year-old father of two, who willingly returned to Nigeria from Rome, Italy, in October 2016 after experiencing racial discrimination for a long time, officials of the organisation in Lagos only gave him a freezer, generator and food items including noodles they claimed totalled N1.5million.
He said efforts to claim the rest of the money that would enable him set up a business and take care of his family had been futile as the IOM officials continued to give various excuses for not releasing the fund to him.
The 69-year-old man had left Nigeria for Italy in 1982 in search of a better life and returned many years later in 2005 to pick a wife.
In 2009, Amosco took his pregnant wife, Joy, with him back to Italy where she delivered and lived with him until 2016 after the birth of their second child before returning to Nigeria as a result of racial discrimination.
The man, who worked at a filling station in Rome, revealed that he grew tired of the discrimination against foreigners like him in the European country and decided to return to Nigeria with his family for a fresh start.
He approached IOM in Rome to help make his move seamless and as crisis-free as possible.
Amosco received an almost instant positive response from the organisation, which went on to approve the Euro equivalent of N10million for the reintegration of him and his family.
But despite tendering all documents he was given in Italy before returning to Nigeria authorising the release of the money to him, workers at the Lagos IOM office had continued to disregard the order, accusing him of forging the papers he presented to them.
The father of two, who now lives in Benin, Edo State, revealed that the situation has left him in dire straits.
Speaking with SaharaReporters on Friday, he said, “The IOM officials have simply refused to release the money I am entitled to for five years despite several orders from Italy to that effect.
“Out of N10million, they have not given me any penny; instead they gave me a freezer, generator and some noodles, which they all valued at N1.5million.
“I did not ask for those items, they imposed it on me. They should have released the money to me and allowed me to start a business of my choice with it.
“Since I returned to Nigeria from Italy with my family, none of the IOM officials has checked on us to see where we live or how we are coping with life in the country.
“That is part of the reintegration programme their organisation is supposed to oversee but they are not doing that. They are more interested in sitting on people’s money and denying them their entitlements.
“Till date, they have not documented what I have received from them so far because they know they are being fraudulent about the whole thing.
“I know many people who came back home through the same way and had been left without adequate reintegration.
“My family and I were completely abandoned without assistance, support and food. We have been surviving through the support of my siblings in Benin, Edo State, where we are currently residing.”
Response to an email enquiry on the matter sent to IOM spokesperson in Nigeria was still being awaited as of the time of this report.