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S’Arabia: 131 Deportees Arrive Abuja
The last batch of Nigerians being repatriated from Saudi Arabia arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, yesterday.
The Director, Consular and Immigration Services in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Abdulazeez Dan-Kano, told newsmen that the remaining 131 deportees out of 518 were transported home.
According to Dan-Kano, 51 of the deportees are from Kano State, while 17 are from Borno, with 16 from Katsina and 11 from Yobe.
He said nine of the deportees were from Jigawa, six from Plateau, while Kaduna and Bauchi states had five and four deportees, respectively.
The director said Edo had three deportees, while Nasarawa had two, with one deportee each from Kebbi, Ogun, Niger and Adamawa states.
Dan-Kano said all the 518 deportees arrived in the country in six batches between December 25 and yesterday.
He appealed to Nigerians still hiding in slums in Saudi Arabia to embrace the benevolence of the Federal Government and return home to avoid the wrath of the Saudi authorities.
Dan-Kano said the Nigerian Embassy in Saudi Arabia had since begun sensitisation campaign on the need for proper documentation of Nigerians who were legally resident in the country.
He said that most of the deportees were Nigerians who travelled to Saudi Arabia for Umrah, but stayed back at the end of the exercise in search of “greener pastures”.
The director said the affected Nigerians had requested government’s assistance to facilitate their return home.
Dan-Kano said that the Saudi Government had also started the deportation of more than 951 Nigerians in its custody.
He said the affected Nigerians were arrested by the Saudi authorities at the expiration of the November deadline for all illegal immigrants to leave the country.
Our Correspondent reports that officials of the National Emergency Management Agency were at the airport to register and provide relief to the deportees.
Some state emergency management agencies were at the airport to transport their indigenes back home.