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Tag returnees

General news

(Video) NAN News Highlights for Fri., July 13, 2018

 

  1. The National Emergency Management Agency says it has received another batch of 160 assisted voluntary returnees from Libya, who were stranded in failed attempts to reach different European countries.

The Planning Officer of NEMA, Mr Segun Afolayan, said the returnees arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, through the assistance of the International Organisation for Migration.

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  1. An Islamic NGO, Al-Habibiyyah Islamic Society has thrown its weight behind the Federal Government’s anti-corruption war with a call on other religious organisations to follow suit.

The Executive Director of the organisation, Imam Adeyemi said that the organisation through its anti-corruption NGO, the “Just Foundation’’ was out to solicit support of other Islamic groups, religious leaders, Imams and scholars across the country on how to preach against corruption.

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  1. The World Food Programme says it has spent 126million dollars to provide food aid in various forms to 1.2million people in 16 Northern Nigerian states since 2017.

 

The agency’s Head of Communication in Nigeria Ms. Ingermarie Vennize, listed the states as Katsina, Kaduna,Taraba, Zamfara,Sokoto,Kano, Yobe, Borno, Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Gombe, Jigawa, Kebbi, Plateau and Niger.

 

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  1. President Paul Biya of Cameroon says he will run for re-election in October, aiming to extend his 36-year rule and maintain his place on a shortening roster of long-standing African leaders.

Biya, who came to power in 1982 when his predecessor retired, is seeking a seventh term in office that could see the 85-year-old, rule well into his 90s.

 

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  1. Postal voting has started in Zimbabwe ahead of the July 30 General Elections, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has said.

Some police officers in Bulawayo began to cast their ballots through the postal vote, but the opposition MDC Alliance raised concerns that they were doing so in the absence of the country’s electoral commission, candidates and political parties’ representatives.

Health

Libya returnees: NAPTIP renews cooperation with Edo Govt

Libya returnees: NAPTIP renews cooperation with Edo Govt
NAN-HG-9
By Mustapha Sumaila
Abuja, Jan. 17, 2018 (NAN) The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has pledged a more robust cooperation with the Edo Government to ensure the success of the on-going evacuation and reintegration of Libya returnees.
The agency renewed its support in a statement signed by the Head, Press and Public Relations of NAPTIP, Mr Josiah Emerole, on Wednesday in Abuja.
It described allegations that the agency was not cooperating with Edo government as untrue.
“Our attention has been drawn to reports quoting the Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, accusing the agency of not cooperating with his government in the fight against human trafficking, especially with the on-going evacuation and reintegration of returnees from Libya.
“The reports also quoted the governor as accusing the agency of not properly guiding the Federal Government on packages for evacuated victims from Libya.
“And alluding to the fact that the batches evacuated by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) were given one hundred Euros each.
“It is important to state clearly that the allegations by the Edo State Government are far from the truth,” the statement read in part.
It stated that NAPTIP was an agency established in pursuant to the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act 2003, and it has never in any way shown lack of cooperation to the Government and good people of Edo in the fight against human trafficking.
The agency said it held the state and her people in very high esteem and it was for that reason that the first and the biggest Zonal Command of NAPTIP after the Lagos Command was established in Benin City early in 2004.
According to it, the command which handles only Edo and Delta states remained the busiest and most vibrant command in the country.
The statement noted that the present evacuation of Nigerians from Libya was not NAPTIP’s project but that of the Federal Government as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) was the coordinating agency for the exercise and NAPTIP was only a member of the federal government’s mission to Libya.
“And the agency has its personnel who are working with other sister agencies in Port Harcourt to assist the returnees on arrival through profiling and psycho-social assistance especially for victims of human trafficking among them.
“The business of NAPTIP so far has been to identify the victims and suspects of human trafficking and take them to NAPTIPs facilities in Benin, Uyo and Lagos for further assistance.
“The agency does not have access to funds for this project since NEMA is the coordinating agency for the project,’’ it said.
On the package for the returnees, it also explained that the 100 Euros was given directly to the returnees whom the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) brought back from Libya through Lagos.
The agency said that the project was part of their Voluntary Returns programme as promised before the returnees embarked on the journey home, adding that NAPTIP has nothing to do with that package.
It stated that NAPTIP had advised states not to take their citizens away immediately upon arrival from Libya, without adequate psycho-social counselling and care.
The statement added that such victims had gone through immense trauma and needed to be gently reintegrated into the society after proper counselling.
It said that doing otherwise would amount to a disaster waiting to happen, as some had committed some crimes in Libya, some had health challenges that should be checked, while some were very demoralised and in dire need of a morale booster.
NAPTIP said that failure to provide this assistance by the states defeated the essence of the federal government’s timely and capital-intensive intervention.
It therefore urged the Edo government to work harmoniously with the agency, noting that lack of cooperation between the state government and NAPTIP can affect the victims.
The agency is federal government’s focal agency on human trafficking. (NAN)
MS/IFY/MST
Edited by Ify Omowole/Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Health

NAPTIP urges state govts taking returnees to provide standard rehabilitation

NAPTIP urges state govts taking returnees to provide standard rehabilitation
NAN-HG-9
Returnees
By Mustapha Sumaila
Abuja, Jan 12, 2017 (NAN) The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has advised state governments taking their indigenes among returnees to provide standard medical care and rehabilitation.
The Director-General of NAPTIP, Ms Julie Okah-Donli, gave the advice while fielding questions from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday.
Okah-Donli explained that proper rehabilitation was necessary because many of the returnees were coming from prisons and require some debriefing, change of mindset and orientation before being reintegrated into the society.
“Those states which had come to the camp in Port Harcourt to receive their indigenes should ensure that they are properly rehabilitated because releasing them into the streets like that may spell dome for the country and damage its image.
“We insist that any state government that is interested in the rehabilitation and reunification of the returnees from their states must meet the minimum standards for sheltering, rehabilitation and reunification of victims.
“The standards are available for any state government that is interested. The guideline can be accessed on the agency’s website: www.naptip.gov.ng.
“These returnees are human beings that must be properly reintegrated into the society with all their rights and dignity, and such must be respected and protected.
“Some of them may be infected with communicable diseases and is not proper for such persons integrated to the society, without being treated,” she said.
The director-general regretted that it was unfortunate that in spite the huge resources and energy by government and other stakeholders in the fight against human trafficking, “some citizens still engage in the perilous journey into the unknown”.
She assured that her agency would continue to intensify its awareness campaign to sensitise Nigerians on the adverse effects of such acts. (NAN)
MS/OIF/MST
Edited by Ifeyinwa Okonkwo/Muhammad Suleiman Tola

Health

Libya returnees reject Edo Govt N1000 transport fares

Libya returnees reject Edo Govt N1000 transport fares
NAN-HG-4
Returnees
By Igbaugba Ehigimetor
Benin, Jan. 10, 2018 (NAN) Some Libya returnees on Wednesday in Benin rejected the N1,000 transport fares given them by the Edo Government to take them to their hometowns.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the returnees had on Tuesday protested the non-payment of stipend as transport fare to their homes within the state.
The returnees said that they had expected something reasonable without stating the amount.
One of the returnees, Gabriel Edokpaigbe, said it would be a shame for him to go back to his father’s house after he sold all his belongings to travel to Europe.
He said the N1,000 would not take him to his destination.
Christian Otoide, who claimed to be based in Lagos State, said he was still wearing the prison uniforms given to him in Libya because he had no other clothes.
Otoide said that returnees were promised many things in Libya hence he agreed to return home, adding that he is disappointed.
“How will N1,000 take me to Lagos? We were working in Libya but Libya police said our government said our country is now good. That was why I returned,” he said.
The returnees claimed that announcement by the Federal Government that Nigerians should return home made Libya policemen to arrest those living comfortably in the country.
Many said they lost their money to the forceful arrest and deportation.
Efosa Clifford, 43, said he spent over N1.3 million on his failed trip to Europe.
He said: “If there was good liberty in Libya, life is good there, it is just that blacks have no free movement in Libya.”
Meanwhile, relatives of some of the returnees have stormed the premises of the Benin Motel Plaza where the returnees are lodged to find their lost ones.
Those looking for their relatives peeped through the fence to look for their loved ones.
A woman who gave her name as Boss said she was looking for her brother named Aminu, adding that she last heard from him in September 2016.
Another man said he had visited the hotel each time he heard Nigerians had returned from Libya to search for his daughter but to no avail. (NAN)
ESI/JI/MST
Editing by Joseph Idika/Muhammad Suleiman Tola