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Nigerians evacuated from Libya have accused the federal government of neglecting them, since they returned to the country.

About 50 of the 180
evacuees who returned to the country at the weekend said the government
should have left them at the Tunisia refugee camp instead of bringing
them back home and failing to keep promises made to them.

Speaking on Sunday
at the Hajj camp of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos,
some of them said over 48 hours after their arrival in Lagos, no one has
come forward to tell them anything about their belongings, which they
checked-in at the Tunis airport. They also said they were promised $200
(N30,000) each by government officials, but on getting to Nigeria, the
sum was reduced to N5,000.

“We arrived Nigeria
without our luggage and nobody has told us why our luggage did not
arrive with us, because we checked them in at Tunis airport,” said
Muhammed Abubakar, an evacuee who is from Kano State.

“We were told that
we would be given $200 when we arrive Nigeria by our ambassador at Tunis
airport but when we arrived, we were given only N5, 000 and even some
of us have gotten our money.”

Another evacuee, who
identified himself as Winner, confirmed the Mr. Abubakar’s claims, and
added that “it is a huge disappointment to have the federal government
treating its citizens this way”.

“When Ghanaians were
evacuated by the Ghanaian government, on arrival in Accra, they were
given a new hand set and a sim card and they were evacuated promptly,”
he said.

When contacted, an
official of the Nigeria Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) refused to
comment on the issue. However, Margret Isaac, an evacuee who arrived
Nigeria with her daughter, said that the agency earlier promised to
bring back the luggage by Wednesday and Friday.

“I told my husband
to allow us to remain in the refugee camp in Tunis but my husband said
we must go back to Nigeria. In the refugee camp in Tunis, we were given
enough food, water and everything we need but here in Nigeria NEMA is
giving us N5,000; this is not enough. This is not what the ambassador
told us in Tunis,” she said.