198 Nigerians, made up of men, women and children, have been deported from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The deportees arrived the Aminu Kano International Airport at about Saturday morning and were received by representatives of some government agencies including the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
Officials said 198 deportees constitute the first batch of illegal residents to be sent back home from the oil rich Islamic nation, where about 1,800 Nigerians are said to be living illegally.
An official of the Nigerian Consulate in Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Yahaya-Sani, who accompanied the deportees back to Nigeria, said the flight that took them from Jedda to Kano was chartered and paid for by the Federal Government.
According to him, the illegal migrants voluntarily reported to the Nigerian Embassy to be returned to Nigeria in compliance with the three months evacuation notice issued to them by Saudi authorities, which will expire on July 24.
He said the deportees “decided on their own to return to Nigeria”.
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