The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Thursday received 98 Nigerians stranded in Niger Republic.

The NEMA Coordinator, Kano Territorial Office, Dr Nuradeen Abdullahi, said this while receiving the returnees in Kano.

Mr Abdullahi said that the returnees were brought back to Kano in three luxury buses under the care of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) from Agadez.

“The returnees were brought back through a voluntary repatriation programme for the distressed who had left the country to seek greener pastures in various European countries and could not afford to return when their journey became frustrated,’’ he said.

He said that the returnees included 81 males adult, six females adult and 11 children (three females and eight males).

According to him, the returnees are from different parts of the country, some from Kano, Kaduna, Katsina and Edo, amongst other states.

“The returnees will be trained for four days to be self-reliant and will be given a grant,” he said.

The returnees were given blankets, toiletries, clothes and food.

Mr Abdullahi urged Nigerians to avoid endangering their lives by travelling to seek greener pastures in other countries.

Fatima Shittu, a returnee widow and mother of four from Kaduna State, said she travelled to Algeria for greener pasture with her four kids.

“Me and my children are suffering; that was why I decided to seek for greener pasture,” she said.

Another returnee, Auwal Shittu from Kano State, said before he travelled, he was selling recharge card.

“My father is dead and I have four of my siblings to take care; that was why I decided to travel to Libya to search for greener pasture,’’ Mr Shittu said.

The agency had on May 21, received 129 Nigerians stranded from Agadez.

The returnees were received by NEMA, other sister security agencies, the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons; Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and Nigerian Red Cross.

(NAN)