No less than fresh 5,000 Nigerians ensnared in Libyan camps have been identified by the Federal Government.
This was according to the Charge d’Affaires of Nigeria in Libya, Mr Illiya Fachano, who revealed this in a chat with newsmen on Thursday.
“There is a camp with 5000 Nigerians and we need the diplomatic police to escort us to extract them,” said Fachano.
Advertisement
As further revealed by the Charge d’Affaires, the Nigerian government has commenced negotiations with some authorities in Tripoli, the Capital of Libya, to have the said persons evacuated from the North African country.
“There are various camps in the regions of South, West and East of Libya.
“The UN-backed Libyan Government is in the western region which is where Tripoli is.
“Camps in the other regions are known but inaccessible camps due to the challenges of going into these camps as a communication chain is required before we can reach them.
“We need the Nigerian government to better fund its embassy in Libya and send the aircraft.
“We have made our request for that”.
“We, the embassy of Nigeria in Tripoli, Libya, have been doing our best to register Nigerians.
“We have visited the detention camps, and also collaborated with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to repatriate migrants weekly.
“We also ensure that we are up to date with the number of Nigerians in specific detention camps.
“I want it to be clear that the mission and Nigerian government have been doing this long before the CNN report.’
“We have asked the Nigerian presidency to provide us with an extra aeroplane to assist with the quick repatriation of registered Nigerians who are willing to return.
“I want the public to know that we have some Nigerians who are not willing to return despite the unfavourable situations and the fact is that we can’t get them on the flight without their consent,“ Fachano said.