Nigeria to speed up repatriating migrants from Libya

Nigeria is to speed up repatriating its citizens from Libya which has been accused of exploiting and ill-treating migrants, its foreign minister said in Tripoli on Saturday. Geoffrey Onyeama told a news conference Nigeria was chartering two aircraft to repatriate over the next few days 800 of its citizens who wanted to go home. Onyeama said he had visited two migrant detention centres in Libya and met a number of his compatriots.
"The reality is that a large number of these Nigerians here have suffered greatly and have gone through an extreme traumatic experience," he told reporters. "The main objective is to get these Nigerians back home as quickly as possible." Onyeama admitted there had been difficulties in identifying the number of Nigerians in Libya, as many were undocumented or in detention centres not controlled by the authorities.