Another set of 171 Nigerians brought back from Libya

THE Nigerian Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in collaboration with International Organisation for Migration (IOM) yesterday brought back 171 young Nigerians who were stranded in Libya.
The 171, who returned with tales of sorrow, narrated the harsh treatment they were subjected to by their host country.
The latest deportation brought to 643 Nigerians that had been rescued and brought back to the country since December 2016 when the government commenced rescue of the citizens after distress calls that the Libyan authorities were killing and maltreating the Nigerians who were in the country in search of greener pastures.
Some of the returnees gave a tragic story of their encounter in the hands of the Libyan authorities, who sold them into slavery for refusing to go into prostitution, which they said was a thriving business in the Maghreb region.
One of the returnees who simply gave his name as Favour and said was lured into the trip by a man in Benin City, ended up in the most horrific place of Libya contrary to her earlier desire to travel to Italy.
Her words: “One Kingsley came to me and told me about the attractiveness of Italy. He said he was ready to take me there to improve my living condition. The picture he painted was very attractive to ignore. We started the journey in September last year.
“We took a bus from Onitsha to Kano. From there we passed through the desert to Niger border. The security people at the Niger border collected N1, 000 from us before they could allow us to pass and from there to Agadez.

“We spent two days there and from there to Sarba, which is the last town before Tripoli. We spent two weeks in the desert. Some fainted, others died in the desert.”
Favour stated that when efforts to lure her into prostitution failed, she had to escape from her captors, but was eventually captured and taken to a detention camp where they were kept for two months before their deportation.
She stated that at the detention camp that they were maltreated, beaten and starved of food for days. She said they were only fed once a day while they also deprived them of opportunity to have their bath for days.
Another returnee, Ayomide Ajeyibi, an OND graduate from the Polytechnic, Ibadan said her dream had always been to go to Libya in search of work after many years of joblessness.
She disclosed that she paid N1.2 million to a man who took her to Libya. She said she got a job with an Arabian company which paid her N50, 000 monthly.