FG, IOM evacuate 6,000 Nigerians from Libya

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, MrOlugbenga Ashiru, on Wednesday, said that the Federal Government and the International Organisation for Immigration (IOM) evacuated 6,000 Nigerians from Libya at the initial stage of the conflict in that country.The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the House of Representatives, through a resolution, invited the minister to appear before its committee for a briefing on measures taken by the Federal Government to secure the lives of Nigerians in Libya.Ashiru, who briefed the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, said the Federal Government evacuated 5,000 Nigerians while the IOM brought out another 1,000.The minister said the presence of Nigerians in Libya at the time of the conflict was a source of concern to the Federal Government.He noted that there were no fewer than 25,000 Nigerians living in Libya, saying this made it a daunting task to repatriate them even under normal circumstances.Ashiru, who recalled how the government evacuated those Nigerians who were willing to leave the country at the beginning of the conflict, said: 'While the government can provide aircraft to evacuate those willing to leave, it cannot coerce those not willing to be evacuated.'In spite of the aircraft dispatched to evacuate them to Nigeria, some of our nationals, in deference to their human rights and rights to decision, made the choice to remain in that country. ''The minister also said the government considered many factors before taking the position to recognise the National Transitional Council (NTC) in Libya.'The decision taken by the government on Libya was, therefore, not hasty as imagined in some quarters. Our decision was also informed by humanitarian considerations.'We hoped that the end of the former regime will usher in a new era of calm and tranquility.
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