Mulls sending aircraft for stranded Nigerians
From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The Federal Government has condemned auctioning of migrants and selling them off as slaves.
Government has, thus, vowed to investigate as well as take further action on the issue.
The federal government’s position is sequel to an exclusive report by the Cable News Network (CNN), last week, which has since gone viral globally, which showed a video of migrants being auctioned off as slaves in Libya.
Some who were sold for $400, were said to be Nigerians. The act hassparked global outrage and the Libyan government has promised to probe and prosecute those behind the deed.
Regardless, back home, the Nigerian government has said it will investigate the reports and is exploring the feasibility of sending aircraft to evacuate Nigerians who are stranded in Libya.
In a statement in Abuja, yesterday, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tiwatope Adeleye Elias-Fatile, said government is in frequent contact with the Nigerian Mission in Tripoli, Libya, on the video clip.
“In this regard, we have received a preliminary report from the mission that the host foreign ministry has invited African group of diplomats to a meeting where the Libyan government condemned the widely circulated video and stressed in particular that the CNN video footage was an attempt to falsify and dent the image of their country.
“The diplomats were assured that the Libyan government would investigate the video and if found to be true, the perpetrators of such acts would be brought to justice.
“The federal government of Nigeria unequivocally condemns the act of auctioning migrants and will continue to investigate the media reports under reference for appropriate action.
“The government is also exploring the feasibility of sending aircraft to evacuate Nigerians who are stranded in Libya,” said Elias-Fatile.
The ministry also said the Nigerian mission in Tripoli has been addressing problems associated with Nigerian migrants in Libya.
Government said there were instances when the mission received appeals for intervention from some Nigerian families whose children and relations were victims of inhumane acts in Libya.
“The mission has also addressed some cases of kidnapping of Nigerians for ransom, by foreigners, and cases of some Nigerians who kidnapped by their fellow Nigerians for ransom in Libya were equally reported to the mission for intervention…”
“The mission has been visiting detention camps to identify Nigerians for registration and to issue Emergency Travelling Certificates (ETC) to them. The mission had rescued many victims and repatriated some of them to Nigeria, sometimes in collaboration with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), as well as some NGOs. Many cases affecting Nigerians have been reported to host authorities for investigation,” the statement added.