TheNewsGuru

Tag: Libya

  • Another set of 258 Nigerians return from Libya

    No fewer than 258 more Nigerian returnees from Libya arrived the country on Thursday aboard a chartered Airbus A330-200 with registration mark 5A-LAT operated by Libya Airlines.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the aircraft landed about 9:43pm at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

    The 258 voluntary returnees, who include four children and one infant were made up of of 233 males, 25 females.

    Their return was facilitated by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the Nigerian embassy in Libya.

    They were received at the Hajj Camp area of the airport by officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), the National Agency for the Protection of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and the Police.

    Addressing newsmen, Ms Julie Okah-Donli, the newly appointed Director-General of NAPTIP, said the agency was particularly interested in those that were trafficked.

    “After the profiling have been done, for those that have been trafficked, we will take them away to our shelters,” she said.

    According to her, the agency is working with the international community to clamp down on the trafficking syndicate.

    “They are doing their investigation and very soon we will be able to come out with effective results,” she said.

    Also, Dr Onimode Bandele, Director, Search and Rescue, NEMA, said some of the returnees had medical issues.

    He said some of them were suffering from depression and malnutrition, while one person sustained gun injury.

    TheNewsGuru.com recalls that NEMA, had on Wednesday said another batch of 250 Nigerians would voluntarily return to the country from Libya on Thursday.|

     

     

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  • Another batch of 250 Nigerians return from Libya Thursday – NEMA

    The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, on Wednesday said another batch of 250 Nigerians would voluntarily return to the country from Libya on Thursday.|

    NEMA’s spokesman for South-West Zone, Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, told the newsmen in Lagos that the returnees were expected to arrive at the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company/Hajj Camp section of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, at about 3.00pm.

    More than 253 Nigerians had on April 25 voluntarily returned from Libya aboard a chartered Libya Airlines — Airbus A330-200 — with registration no. 5A-LAT.

    The returnees comprise 102 males, 140 females and 11 children.

    They were brought back by the International Organisation for Migration and the Nigerian Embassy in Libya.

    The returnees were received at the Hajj Camp of the airport by officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service, the National Agency for the Protection of Trafficking in Persons and the Police.

    Also on the ground to receive them were officials of NEMA and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that hundreds of Nigerians have been forced out of Libya in recent times against the backdrop of hostile treatment meted out to blacks by Libyan citizens and the authorities.

    Senior Special Adviser to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, had said that the Federal Government valued their lives, hence the partnership with IOM and NEMA to ensure their safe return.

     

     

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  • Over 200 feared dead in two migrant shipwrecks off coast of Libya

    Over 200 feared dead in two migrant shipwrecks off coast of Libya

    Almost 200 people are feared to have died in two Mediterranean Sea migrant shipwrecks during the weekend, according to reports on Monday.

    The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Libya said that seven people were rescued off the north-western city of Zawiya, and one of them said 113 others were missing.

    The information was posted on Twitter and confirmed by an IOM Spokesman in Rome, Flavio Di Giacomo.

    Separately, 80 people died on Saturday after the rubber dinghy they were travelling on overturned, according to the ANSA news agency, which sourced its report from survivors’ accounts to Italian prosecutors.

    The sea channel between Italy and Libya is the world’s busiest and most dangerous sea migration route.

    More than 6,600 people were rescued there between Friday and Sunday.

    On Sunday, the Head of the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR, Filippo Grandi, said more than 1,150 people died or went missing since the start of the year in sea crossings to Europe.

    Grandi added that the mortality rate on the Libya-Italy route was one in 35.

    He praised efforts by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), noting they had carried out one third of rescue operations since January 1, and renewed calls for EU authorities to open legal migration channels to spare people from dangerous sea journeys.

    NGO involvement in sea rescues has become controversial since an Italian prosecutor accused them of acting in cahoots with Libyan people smugglers.

    The prosecutor says he has suspicions but no proof; the NGOs have rejected all charges.

     

     

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  • Libya repatriates fresh batch of 253 Nigerians

    No fewer than 253 more Nigerians voluntarily returned from Libya on Tuesday aboard a chartered Airbus A330-200 with registration mark 5A-LAT operated by Libya Airlines

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the aircraft landed about 6.45pm at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

    The returnees were made up of of 102 males, 140 females, six children and five infants.

    They were brought back by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the Nigerian embassy in Libya.

    The returnees were received at the Hajj Camp area of the airport by officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) , the National Agency for the Protection of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and the Police.

    Also on ground to receive them were officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

    Addressing newsmen, Dr Onimode Bandele, Director, Search and Rescue, NEMA, said two of the returnees had medical issues.

    According to him, one of them was suffering from depression, while the other had severe burns requiring surgical operation.

    He said :”Let’s thank God that these ones have returned safely because Libya is not what it used to be.

    “As a government, our advice is that young Nigerians should strive to work hard and tap into vast opportunities available in the country instead of seeking greener pastures elsewhere. ”

    Bandele said some state governments had initiated various programmes to rehabilitate and reintegrate the returnees back into the society.

    He said NEMA would continue to work with IOM to bring back Nigerians willing to return, adding that the programme was continuous.

    Speaking to newsmen, the returnee who suffered the severe burns on her face said she arrived Libya in February after making a payment of N300, 000 to her traffickers.

    She told newsmen that she suffered the injury while working for her “madam” who only went to dump her at the hospital where she was abandoned.

    The returnee, therefore, appealed to the government for assistance to carry out a reconstructive surgery on her face.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that a total of 236 Nigerians had in March voluntarily returned from the North African country where they had been stranded enroute Europe.

     

     

     

     

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  • Another 171 Nigerians deported from Libya

    Barely a week after 162 Nigerians were brought back by the Federal Government from Libya, another batch of 171 Nigerians were yesterday deported.

    TheNewsGuru.com gathered that they were brought into the country through the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos.

    They landed at the cargo section of the airport at about 4p.m.

    Breakdown of persons flown back include 109 female adults, two female children and one infant. Males were 49 adults, five children and five infants.

    The Libyan returnees were brought back courtesy of the FG and the International Organization for Migration, IOM.

    The Federal Government, however, assured that the evacuation programme from Libya, being the seventh in about 14 months, will not continue endlessly, but would soon be wrapped up.

    Recall that after videos and pictures of the killing of black immigrants in Libya were circulated online, the FG had warned Nigerians to stay clear of Libya.

    The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said although the authenticity of the pictures and tapes in question could not be verified, it was a known fact that Libya had been allegedly executing black immigrants illegally for years.

  • 161 Nigerians return from troubled Libya, recount tales of torture, rape

    About 161 Nigerians that had traveled to Libya on Tuesday returned voluntarily with the assistance of the International Organisation for Migration.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the returnees who had hopes for a better life returned the country with different accounts of how they were maltreated in the troubled North Africa country.

    They said they traveled to the North African country with the hope of crossing to Europe through the Mediterranean Sea in search of jobs.

    Although they arrived Lagos thanking their Creator for bringing them home safely, several of them confessed to newsmen that their quest for greener pastures abroad had left them scarred.

    One of the returnees, Miss Bridget Akeamo, an indigene of Anambra State, said her parents decided to send her to Italy when all hopes of securing a job after graduation faded.

    Bridget, who said she left Nigeria August last year, was four months pregnant when she returned.

    She said she was arrested by immigration officials while trying to cross to Italy from Libya.

    Bridget said, “Ever since then, I have been moved from one prison to another until I was taken to a detention camp in Tripoli.

    “We were subjected to inhuman treatment while in prison, from the food we ate to the water we drank.

    “Most of the young ladies in detention camp were repeatedly raped by Libyan officials; and if you refused their advances, it would be hell for you.

    “Thank God I am back in Nigeria. I know all hope is not lost, but it is painful that I will begin from scratch again with my unborn child.”

    Stanley Iduh, a 34-year-old indigene of Delta State said that he was tricked by an agent popularly known as “Burger,” who promised to facilitate his journey to Spain through Libya.

    He said that when his hope of crossing into Spain was dashed in Libya, he decided to stay back and work there.

    He said, “I worked in a tile producing company and their salary was good, but unfortunately, I cannot save my money in the bank. I lived with other Nigerians. I dug a hole in the ground and hid my money in it.

    “Unfortunately, one day, some Libyans came, kidnapped us and inflicted punishment on us. They asked us to call our relations back in Nigeria and tell them to send N300,000 as our ransom.

    “The $200,000 that I saved disappeared; they moved us to another place until we got to detention camp.

    “Nigerians should be discouraged from travelling to Libya because they don’t see us as human beings. Our ladies were dehumanised by Libyan officials. It is very painful.”

    Iduh, who said he sold the house left by his late father before travelling to Libya, urged the federal and state governments as well as wealthy Nigerians to create job for the youths.

    “It was because I was jobless for three years that I was cajoled to travel abroad to look for greener pasture. I am back in the country after eight months, devastated and humiliated. I have gone to look for greener pasture, but here I am today; I have brought nothing green back home,” he said; with tears running down his cheeks.

    Paul and Marvellous Isikhuemhen are twin brothers who traveled to Libya in March and May 2016 respectively in search of better life.

    Marvellous told newsmen that they regretted travelling out of the country because of the bitter encounter they had in Libya.

    He said though they secured good jobs in a publishing house in Libya, “it was a case of suffering and smiling’’ until they were given the opportunity to return home through the IOM.

    The brothers urged the Nigerian government to stop young ladies from travelling to Libya, saying they were molested by Libyan immigration officials.

    They said most Nigerian ladies bribe Nigerian immigration officers to secure travel documents to travel to Libya, adding that most of the children brought back home by these ladies have no fathers.

    “I can boldly tell you that the children you are seeing in their hands and those pregnant ladies are products of Libyan immigration officers,” one of them said.

     

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  • Trump bans entry of citizens from Syria, Iraq, Iran, others into US

    …orders Mexican border barricade

    President Donald Trump has ordered a temporary ban of nationals from war troubled Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen pending the review of the vetting processes.

    The president also ordered the erection of a wall along the US-Mexico border beginning from Wednesday (today).

    He said this on Tuesday as he unveiled his actions on border and national security.

    He has indicated temporary ban on immigration from Muslim countries deemed a ‘threat to national security’.

    Trump will also sign other domestic immigration enforcement measures that will include targeting sanctuary cities that decline to prosecute undocumented aliens.

    The president posted a tweet on Tuesday evening signaling that major announcements were in the offing.

    ‘Big day planned on NATIONAL SECURITY tomorrow (Wenesday)’, Trump tweeted.

    ‘Among many other things, we will build the wall!’

    The new Trump directives will also stop most refugees including those from Syria coming to America while vetting processes are reviewed.

    The one exception is religious minorities fleeing persecution – which would apply to Christians fleeing Syria and other Muslim majority countries.

    In total the six immediate actions are as follows: Release of funds toward the construction of a wall along the southern border; Target so-called ‘sanctuary’ cities that decline to prosecute undocumented aliens; Institute a four-month freeze on admission of all refugees.

    Others are Temporarily ban nationals from Muslim-majority countries that are ‘terror prone’; Halt visas to people from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen; Grant exceptions to Christians and other minorities fleeing Muslim persecution.

  • FG set to evacuate another set of Nigerians from Libya

    The Federal Government is to evacuate another set of Nigerian from Libya in February, Deputy Director, Search and Rescue, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Dr Bandele Onimode, has said.

    Onimode said this on Tuesday in Abuja when he led a delegation to the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora (SSAPFAD), Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa.

    The delegation had come to shed light on the efforts of the agency in the rescue operations in Libya and other countries and what the Federal Government had been doing to secure the lives of Nigerians trapped in transit

    According to him, the Federal Government has been doing a lot to help Nigerian citizens wherever they are having challenges.

    “It is a well known fact that Nigerians do cross the desert to Europe through Niger Republic, Mali, and Sudan and in the process some are tired, stranded and trapped.

    “Our Nigerian missions abroad never leave them alone, they always come to their rescue. As I am talking to you there are still some of them that are stranded in Niger and we are working on that.

    “But the one that caught the attention of recent is the issue of Nigerians trying to get to Europe through Libya. There is need to set the record straight on what the government has been doing,” Onimode said.

    He said the Federal Government had already evacuated no fewer than 1,000 voluntary returnees from Libya between 2015 and 2016.

    Onimode said that 325 returnees were evacuated in May 2015 while 669 were evacuated four times in 2016.

    He explained that 175, 160, 172, 162 returnees were evacuated from Libya, in August, October, and December 2016 respectively.

    According to Onimode, most of the returnees were from Delta and Edo and aged between 16 and 22, adding that there were cases of infants being accompanied by their mothers.

    He said that there were also cases of injured persons that were evacuated and returned to the country, stressing that such people were properly profiled by the Nigerian Immigration Service.

    Onimode said that the agency was working with other sister agencies such as DSS, Police, FAAN, and NAPTIP to sort out the cases of victim of trafficking.

    He explained that the International Office on Migration (IOM ) in conjunction with Libya had always helped in sorting out of the returnees.

    “They are different from deportees; they are organised and willing returnees that are kept by IOM before being returned in collaboration with the Federal Government to the country,” Onimode said.

    He said that the agency was going to set up an assessment team in collaboration with the office of SSAPFAD to ensure that Nigerians that were set to be arrested in those countries were identified and brought back to home

    In her speech, Dabiri-Erewa called on Nigerians, especially parents, to warn their children and wards against embarking on illegal migration through Libya and the desert to the UK

    “The issue of migration through Libya and Morocco is very dangerous for now and we advise Nigerians to desist from such dangerous adventure because a lot of times, a lot of these black migrants are dumped into the sea.

    “It is gaining attention now because Europe is involved, but I will advise that it is not worth it a lot of times, it is not as green as we thought it is over there

    “We cannot stop migration , whether legal or illegal, but what we can do is to reduce illegal migration,” she said.

  • 6,330 HIV patients registered in Libya in 2016 – WHO

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that 6,330 HIV patients registered in Libya in 2016.

    The UN Health Agency said in a statement that 10 people also died in the out-gone year as a result of inability to access anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs.

    “Last year, there were 6,330 registered HIV patients in Libya; 10 people aged 18 or 19, died due to lack of ARV drugs.

    “Many other patients have been forced to scale back on their drug regimens, meaning that many are now in the advanced stages of the disease and that they face increasingly high mortality rates.’’

    The global health body said just a few weeks ago, it began distributing much-needed ARV drugs to patients living with HIV in Libya, following the country’s collapse in medical services and inability to provide life-saving drugs.

    “After the start of the country’s civil war in 2011, rates of HIV have continued to rise.

    “A recent WHO analysis of the country’s health system indicates a general collapse in medical services, including a lack of drug availability.

    “Severe shortages of ARV drugs are threatening the lives of those with HIV and have even led to public protests demanding that the Ministry of Health take immediate action to resolve the problem.’’

    It said following the pressure on the ministry, it subsequently reached out to WHO for support in drug procurement and distribution.

    According to it, so far, WHO has provided three months of drugs to some 450 patients.

    “The agency is working closely with the Ministry to develop and implement surveillance and health system assessment mechanisms, particularly those regarding blood safeties,’’ WHO said.

    WHO said the initiative was intended to reinstate the HIV-related infrastructure that was halted at the start of the war in 2011.

    “For years, cultural barriers and stigmatisation have impeded effective HIV prevention programmes.

    “The WHO is advocating for universal access to HIV treatment and care by focusing on planning, surveillance, and delivery of health care services to HIV patients in order to undermine some of these barriers.

    “In order to meet its goals, the WHO is requesting 1.2 million dollars from donors, which would allow the agency to guarantee a supply of ARV drugs throughout 2017.’’