The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), on Friday, evacuated a total of 191 stranded Nigerians from India.
The returnees, who arrived at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja at about 4 pm, were welcomed by a delegation of the Federal Government, led by NEMA officials. NEMA spokesperson, Ezekiel Manzo, said in a statement that after being profiled and screened, the returnees were given a token of $100 US Dollars or equivalent for transportation to their various homes. the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, who was represented by a deputy director in the Ministry, Dr. Suleiman Abubakar, admonished them to be law-abiding.
The minister said the token provided to them by the federal government was meant to support their movement home. In his remark, the director-general of NEMA, Mustapha Habib Ahmed, instructed the returnees to learn from their experiences and be law-abiding citizens. The NEMA boss, who was represented by the deputy director, of Search and Rescue, Ishaya Isa Chonoko, said the federal government had approved the evacuation to ease the suffering of Nigerians stranded abroad to bring them back home safely. Among officials that received the returnees were staff of Airport agencies, the military, Nigerian Police, the Nigerian Immigration Service, the National Commission for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), NAPTIP, Nigerian Diaspora Commission, NDLEA, Nigerian Correctional Service, Nigerian Customs Service, Port Health Services, NCDC and others.