The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has welcomed 542 stranded Nigerians from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The Head of the Press Unit of NEMA, Manzo Ezekiel, made this confirmation in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.
According to him, the returnees arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on board Max Air Charted flight at 4:29 a.m.
He stated that the returnees included 79 males, 460 females and three infants.
He also stressed that the returnees were screened by health officials, profiled by various relevant agencies and cleared by the Nigerian Immigration Service, before being given a token to aid their transportation to their destinations by NEMA.
Earlier, the Director-General of NEMA, Mustapha Ahmed, who officially welcome and received the returnees on behalf of the federal government, charged them to learn from their experiences and be law-abiding citizens.
Mr Ahmed, represented by the Director of Finance and Account of the agency, Sani Jiba, said that the federal government had approved the evacuation and provision of the token to support their movement back to their various homes.
The Consul General of Nigeria in Dubai, Atinuke Mohammed, who was in the company of the returnees back to the country, thanked the federal government for the special intervention in the safe evacuation of the citizens.
Meanwhile, the returnees were received by officials of NEMA, airport officials, security agencies, National Commission for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), NAPTIP, NIDCOM, NDLEA, Nigerian Correctional Service, Nigerian Customs Service, NCDC, Port Health Services, among others
