One of the 103 Nigerians deported from Turkey on Friday has said that their host country gets €120 daily per immigrant held at the detention camp.
The Federal Government had received no fewer than 103 Nigerians deported from Turkey over migration-related issues such as expired visa, irregular migration, among others.
Alhaji Tijani Ahmed, the Federal Commissioner, National Commission for Refugees Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI) stated this on Friday evening.
Represented by Amb. Catherine Udida, the Director of Migration Affairs in the commission, Ahmed said that the commission expected 110 deportees but received 103, all males.
“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. The passports are still the property of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he assured.
According to him, the NCFRMI is the mandate agency responsible for all returnees, irrespective of their status.
“We equally have a programme where we train them and thereafter reintegrate them into the society,” the Federal Commissioner stated.
Similarly, Mr Bashir Garga, the North-Central Zonal Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), assured the returnees of government readiness to support them through collaborative efforts of all relevant agencies.
One of the victims, Mr Arinze Stone, said that Turkish authorities arrested and detained him in the camp for about six months.
Stone said he had been living in Turkey for quite some years doing business.
“They were arresting people whose paper are not yet out or just expired,” he said.
He alleged that it was since the European Union started paying Turkey for illegal immigrants, that the government stopped issuing and renewing resident permits.
END.