The  National Commission for Refugees, Migrants & Internally Displaced Persons has said that it received a total of 11,494 returnees in the South-west zone of the country in 2018.

NCRMI’s South-west Zonal Head, Mrs Margaret Ukegbu, said on Tuesday in Lagos that the returnees were mostly from Libya, Niger, Mali, Morocco, Liberia, France, Ireland, Poland and Austria.

According to her, the commission received about 10,180 Nigerian returnees from Libya and another 1, 314 returnees from Niger, Mali, Morocco, Liberia, France, Ireland, Poland and Austria, within the year.

“Under the Joint Initiative for Migrant Return and Reintegration Project, implemented by the International Organisation for Migration, the Commission has received a total number of 10,180 Nigerian returnee migrants from Libya, through the South-west Zonal Office in Lagos.

“Within the year, we also received about 1, 314 migrant returnees from Niger, Mali, Morocco, Liberia, France, Ireland, Poland and Austria,’’ she said.

The NCRMI official said the commission, in collaboration with the IOM, had within the period embarked on reintegration programmes for thousands of the returnees.

Ukegbu said that the organisation had established a Migrants Reintegration Centre in Lagos, which last year reintegrated about 147 persons through skills acquisition in hairdressing, tailoring, catering and others.

“There is currently one Migrant Reintegration Centre in Lagos, which is the first of its kind in Nigeria.

“The centre provides shelter for returnees for a period of 90 days, as well as skill acquisition training and psycho-social counselling for these returnees,’’ she said.

(NAN)