No fewer than 542 Nigerians who were stranded in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have returned to Nigeria.
Spokesperson of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Manzo Ezekiel, in a statement on Sunday said the returnees arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on board the Max Air Charted flight at 4:29 a.m.
The returnees included 79 males, 460 females and three infants.
He added that the returnees were screened by health officials, profiled by various relevant agencies and cleared by the Nigerian Immigration Service, before being given tokens to aid their transportation to their destinations.
Earlier, director-general of NEMA, Mustapha Ahmed, who officially received the returnees on behalf of the Federal Government, admonished them to learn from their experiences and be law-abiding citizens.
Ahmed, who was represented by the agency’s director of finance and account, Sani Jiba, added that the Federal Government had approved the evacuation and provision of the tokens to support their movement back to their various homes.
Consul-general of Nigeria in Dubai, Atinuke Mohammed, accompanied the returnees back to Nigeria.
