The British government yesterday deported about 120 Nigerians from the United Kingdom over alleged immigration offences, including lack of valid papers and stay permit among others.
The deportees were said to have arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Lagos aboard a chartered cargo aircraft in the early hours of yesterday to aviod undue attention.
According to a source whic pleaded anonymity, the deportees were mainly young men and women who were angry for being repatriated to Nigeria unprepared.
Saturday Vanguard gathered that most of the deportees wore woe-be-gone looks on arrival made frantic telephone calls, apparently to their friends and relatives with a view to picking them up at the airport, even as they moved their luggage packed in some Ghana Must Go bags from the cargo wing of the airport into the main gate.
Scores of airport workers stopped by to discuss with the deportees, as some of them narrated their experiences, saying they had nothing to fall back on in a country they left several years ago.
One of the deportees, Mr. Wale, blamed Nigerian government for his predicament as well as his other colleagues, stressing that if the country’s economic situation were pleasant, Nigerians would not have any business traveling abroad to humiliate themselves in a bid to survive.
Wale said : “ How do I cope now that we have been sent home unprepared?”
Another deportee, a young lady said, “ I am not interested in discussing why we were brought back home, but my problem now is how to get out of this international airport without drawing unusual attention. I must add that it is not a pleasant experience.”
However, some car hire operators tried to make brisk business from the deportees as they lined up at the main entrance of the cargo terminal trying to ferry those willing to their respective destinations amid tight security.-vanguard
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