Why 103 Nigerians were deported from Turkey| Details + Photos
103 Nigerians deported from Turkey were on Friday, June 28, received by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and other Stakeholders as they arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
A Southwind Airlines flight TCGRB that conveyed the deportees from Turkey to Nigeria, touched down in Abuja at about 7pm and taxied to the pilgrims wing of the airport where they were received.
The deportees alleged that they were unfairly treated and detained months in Turkey before being deported.
One deportee, Mr. Arinze Stone, reported being detained in a Turkish camp for six months. Stone, who had been living in Turkey for several years conducting business, claimed that the Turkish authorities began arresting individuals with expired or pending documentation after the European Union started paying Turkey for managing illegal immigrants.
In his words;
“Each day, the European Union pays 120 Euros per head of immigrants in the Immigration Camp.
“Ever since I had been in Turkey, I always had my resident permit renewed. It just got expired and the Turkish authority collected 700 Euros from me for tax and insurance and then cancelled the renewal”.
Stone added that the deportation fee of approximately 2,500 euros, which was supposed to be provided to each deportee, was not paid.
Another deportee, Moses Emeh, who had operated a registered company in Turkey for over eight years, stated that his resident permit was forcibly cancelled as he was planning to convert it into a work permit. He expressed hope that the Nigerian foreign affairs ministry would address these diplomatic issues and called for sensitization programs for Nigerians in Turkey, citing a lack of transparency from Turkish authorities.
“I don’t know where to start from. But I believe this is a diplomatic issue and I trust our foreign affairs minister, to follow it up.
“I also think that they should have a sensitisation programme for Nigerians still living over there in Turkey because the Turkish government is not being sincere and transparent with us,” Emeh stated.
Speaking to journalists, the Federal Commissioner of the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants, and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), Alhaji Tijani Ahmed, represented by Ambassador Catherine Udida, the Director of Migration Affairs, said that while 110 deportees were expected, only 103 (males) arrived.
“Some of them have been in the deportation camp for some months, and now that they are here, we are hoping to follow up on all the allegations gathered in their profiling.
“We will go through the profiling forms because some of them have said that their passports were seized.
“We are going to follow up with the Turkish authority, because the passports are still the property of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.
Addressing the returnees earlier, the Director General NEMA Mrs Zubaida Umar admonished them to accept their experience in good faith and be law abiding.
The DG NEMA who was represented by the Director North Central Zone Alhaji Bashir Idris Garga said the returnees were received with dignity to assuage their experience and assure the concerns of Federal Government over their plights. She informed them that a token of financial support had been provided to assist in their transportation to their various locations.
Other stakeholders that joined to receive the deportees were officials of the Nigerian Immigration Service, National Commission for Refugees Migrant and Internally Displaced Persons, National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, Federal Airport Authority of Nigerian, Nigerian Police, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, and NDLEA. Others were officials of Port Health Authority and National Intelligence Agency.
After being screened by officials of Port Health authority on arrival the deportees were fed and profiled by NEMA and NCFRMI.
They were also cleared by the Nigerian Immigration Service before being handed the transportation support provided by NEMA to go home.
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