A total of 542 stranded Nigerians in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) evacuated back home by the Federal Government arrived Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja on board Maxair chartered flight on Sunday morning at 4:29am.
The evacuees consisted of 79 males, 460 females and three infants. They were received by a Federal Government team, led by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and airport officials, security agencies, including National Commission for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Nigerian Diaspora Commission, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Nigerian Correctional Service, Nigerian Customs service, Port Health Services, Nigeria Center For Disease Control (NCDC), and others.
On arrival, the returnees were screened by the health officials, profiled by various relevant agencies and cleared by Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) before being given a token of transport fare by NEMA and before leaving the airport.
Speaking earlier, NEMA Director-General, Mustapha Habib Ahmed, who officially received the returnees on behalf of the Federal Government, admonished them to learn from their experiences and be law-abiding citizens that promote economic growth and positive image of Nigeria.
The NEMA boss, who was represented by the Director of Finance and Accounts, Sani Ahmed Jiba, said the Federal Government had approved the evacuation and provision of the token for the returnees to support movement of the returnees back to their homes.
In her remarks, the Consul-General of Nigeria in Dubai, Ambassador Atinuke Taibat Mohammed, who accompanied the returnees back on the flight, appreciated the Federal Government for the special intervention in safe evacuation of the stranded citizens back home.
