THE National Commission for Refugees, Migrants, and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI) has received 36 Nigerian migrants, including children deported from Sweden.
During the returnee profiling, the Federal Commissioner, NCFRMI, Alhaji Tijani Ahmed, stated that deportees are usually contacted because they have overstayed in their host country or have an expired VISA.
Ahmed, who was represented by Amb. Catherine Udida, the Director Migration Affairs in the Commission, said on Wednesday that the government of Sweden must have reminded the returnees of their irregular status.
He explained that the Swedish authority would “give them two or three trials of opportunities for them to return; if you fail, it will start processing their deportation because it is different from coming back voluntarily”.
He said after profiling the returnees, they would be provided with accommodation, dignity kits, and some stipends.
“We have profiled them, identified the vulnerable among them, and in addition, we are taking them to a hotel, trying to understand what the real issues are, then following up with referrals.
“Ordinarily, if they had come voluntarily, usually there is a livelihood support scheme that is provided, so you go for training and you’re given some stipends for start-ups.
“Because they were deported, the onus is on us, the government, to make their lives as comfortable as possible,” Ahmed added.
He said that sometimes the government would keep the returnees for up to a year, saying that whether they were deported or not, the Commission would ensure that they were taken care of properly.
He, therefore, assured the returnees that no matter the circumstances that brought them back, `Nigeria is their country, and there are a lot of opportunities for them to utilise.’
Mr Roland Nwoha, the Country Director, International Returns and Reintegration Assistance (IRARA), explained that the returnees were Nigerians who had immigration issues and were asked to leave Sweden.
Nwoha said that different countries have different laws, saying some countries expected that any of their legal documents should be renewed before they expired, but some migrants were ignorant of it.
“But what they don’t understand is that you don’t wait until your documents expire before you renew it.
“And for us at IRARA, it is to support these Nigerians and help them get a safe landing. It’s likely many of them were brought back from detention centres; some were picked up from the streets.
“We imagine that coming back will be difficult, so what we are doing is providing them with arrival assistance, cash support, toiletries, and a place to pass the night before they travel to their final destinations.
“Most importantly, we want to set up an income-generating activity to welcome them back in a dignified way,” Nwoha said.
He said that the returnees were given N158,000 each, including the children.
One of the deportees said he was undergoing treatment in a hospital before he was deported.
“I thought they were taking me to another hospital before I knew I had found myself in Abuja, although I was also in Sweden to seek asylum.”
Another returnee said she was married to a Swede and was in the process of regularising her documents before she was picked up from her house.