The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has repatriated 497 Nigerian migrants from Niamey to Kano.
The agency received the returnees at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano, on Friday at about 12:40 p.m.
Dr Nura Abdullahi, Head of Operations, NEMA Kano Office, said the exercise was a voluntary repartruation, and not a forced evacuation.
“It is a voluntary repatriation of Nigerians from Niger Republic. The returnees were brought back by the Federal Government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” he said.
Mr Abdullahi said the operation was a tripartite arrangement involving the Nigerian Mission in Niger Republic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Organisation for Migration, IOM, to ensure the safe and dignified return of stranded Nigerians.
He said the returnees comprised 174 males, 97 females, 137 boys and 89 girls from Kano, Jigawa, Borno, Kaduna among others.
According to Mr Abdullahi, the agency, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders caters for the returnees upon arrival.
He said the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons provided drugs to the Nigerian Red Cross medical team for returnees with health challenges.
Mr Abdullahi attributed the migration of many of the returnees to the search for better economic opportunities abroad, adding that most of them were likely heading to Libya but returned after realising the journey was unsafe.
The NEMA official said the agency provided meals, and after physical verification and profiling they would be transported back to their respective states.