FG Responds To Alleged Plans To Deport 13,000 Nigerians From Malaysia

Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, said on Tuesday, that he was yet to get any information about Malaysian Government’s alleged plans to deport about 13,000 Nigerians for overstaying their Visas.

He made this known in Abuja, at the Presidential Task Force briefing, in response to the deportation claims.

“I don’t know what reasons would be for such deportation; but we have not got any such information,” he said.

However, he said that if that were the case, the host country would have notified its embassy for further deliberation.

“Ordinarily, if such a thing were to happen or to be considered, our embassy there would have informed us and we would have engaged with the Malaysian Government in respect of that,” he added.

Onyeama also said that the claims could be far from the truth, adding that ” every country knows that the air space has been closed all around the world and there are people in those countries who, through no fault of their own, might be forced to overstay their Visas.”

“So, it’s not the practice for government to unilaterally embark on issues of deportation and certainly not how such matter would be dealt with if indeed that is the case with Malaysia,” he added.

But he assured, that the ministry would follow up on the issues by contacting the Nigerian embassy in Malaysia to verify if that story was true.