The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has repatriated 497 Nigerian migrants from Niamey to Kano.

The agency received the returnees at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, on Friday at about 12:40 p.m.

Dr Nura Abdullahi, Head of Operations, NEMA Kano Office, said the exercise was a voluntary repatriation, and not a forced evacuation.

“It is a voluntary repatriation of Nigerians from Niger Republic. The returnees were brought back by the Federal Government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” he said.

Abdullahi said the operation was a tripartite arrangement involving the Nigerian Mission in Niger Republic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), to ensure the safe and dignified return of stranded Nigerians.

He said the returnees comprised 174 males, 97 females, 137 boys and 89 girls from Kano, Jigawa, Borno, Kaduna among others.

According to Abdullahi, the agency, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders caters for the returnees upon arrival.

He said the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons provided drugs to the Nigerian Red Cross medical team for returnees with health challenges.

Abdullahi attributed the migration of many of the returnees to the search for better economic opportunities abroad, adding that most of them were likely heading to Libya but returned after realising the journey was unsafe.

The NEMA official said the agency provided meals, and after physical verification and profiling they would be transported back to their respective states.

While advising Nigerians to eschew travelling to seek for greener pastures in other countries, Abdullahi said that, “no country is better than their country of origin.”

One of the returnees, Sani Hamisu from Kano State, said he travelled to Libya in search of better opportunities after facing financial hardship.

“I wanted to support my family as the first son and also get married, so I decided to travel to Libya,” he said.

“In the desert, there was no water and no food, many died. Once your water finishes, nobody can help you even with a cup of water,” he said.

He said that he had spent six years in Libya doing different menial jobs, and eventually returned home empty-handed.

“IOM rescued us in the desert and took us back to Niger Republic before we were brought to Nigeria,” he said.

Another returnee, Harira Muhammad, a mother of two from Borno, said she travelled to Libya eight months ago to support her sick husband.

“My husband was knocked down by a car during a Boko Haram attack, and has had a leg fracture since then.

“I travelled to Libya in search of greener pastures, but we were attacked by bandits who collected our money,” she said.

She urged the government to support them with business grants to enable them to rebuild their lives and care for their families.