The Federal Government has moved to evacuate stranded Nigerians in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as they are currently undergoing profiling ahead of their airlifting back to Nigeria.
Recall that earlier in a viral video, thousands of people were seen seated in an open area with their luggage seeking the intervention of the Federal Government following the mass deportation of aliens being carried out by the UAE authorities.
This was made known by the Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, while briefing journalists in Abuja on Friday, where she said that the profiling being carried out by the Nigerian Consulate in Dubai was necessary to properly get detailed information about the Nigerians over there before evacuating them.
What the Chairman of NIDCOM is saying
Dabiri-Erewa during the press conference said, “Immediately, the attention of the Nigerian Consulate in Dubai was drawn to the issue, Nigerians there are being profiled. Some of them have passports and some do not. There are some children that do not have any form of identification. Some do not even remember the names with which they entered the country originally. So they need to be profiled. It is also important to ensure that some have not committed a crime and they are just running.
“So, what the consulate is doing now is profiling everybody at the holding centre. Initially, at the airport, there was a fake WhatsApp message sent to everybody that there were flights that led to the rush to the airport. There were quite a lot of Africans.”
Going further, she explained that it is only after the profiling that the consulate will make a decision on the next step to take, with the consulate and the embassy will brief the Federal Government on the next step to take.
What you should know
- Recall that a group of Nigerians who were stranded in UAE had earlier sent an SOS to the federal government seeking to be evacuated back to the country.
- According to media reports, some of the stranded Nigerians said that they have been at the Dubai Deportation camp for over a week without adequate food and care, adding that there are almost a thousand Nigerians in the camp, including children.
- They claimed that nationals of other countries who were in camp with them have been attended to by their mission in UAE, but for them, they have not been able to reach the Nigerian Mission as they didn’t get a response to the many messages they sent.
