The National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and
Internally Displaced Persons has received 497 stranded Nigerian migrants
evacuated from Niger through the Jibia border route.
The returnees arrived on Friday at Mallam Aminu Kano
International Airport from Agadez, Niger Republic, as part of a humanitarian
evacuation exercise coordinated by the Federal Government and the International
Organization for Migration.
Officials of the commission’s Kano Field Office,
alongside several government and humanitarian agencies, were present to receive
the migrants upon arrival.
Speaking during the exercise, Federal Commissioner Dr.
Tijjani Aliyu Ahmed, represented by Kano Field Coordinator Lubah Liman,
explained that the evacuation was conducted under the IOM’s Voluntary
Humanitarian Return programme.
According to the commission, Nigeria’s Ministry of
Foreign Affairs had earlier informed the agency about plans to evacuate
stranded Nigerian migrants from Agadez between May 22 and May 25, 2026.
The commissioner stated that the operation is being
carried out in two phases in partnership with the IOM and other government
agencies. Although the first batch was initially expected to bring around 600
returnees, a total of 497 migrants arrived in the first airlift.
Several agencies participated in the reception and
screening process, including the National Agency for the Prohibition of
Trafficking in Persons, National Emergency Management Agency, Nigeria
Immigration Service, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, National Drug
Law Enforcement Agency, the Department of State Services, SEMA, and the
Nigerian Red Cross Society.
Authorities said the returnees underwent documentation
and biometric registration procedures, including MIDAS registration conducted
by the Nigeria Immigration Service, before being transferred to the Immigration
Training School in Kano for accommodation, feeding, profiling, and other
humanitarian support services.
A breakdown of the evacuees showed that the group
consisted of 174 adult men, 97 adult women, 137 boys, and 89 girls.
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