UK, Australia Jointly Deport 40 Nigerians

Chinedu Eze

The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS)has confirmed that the United Kingdom and Australia have jointly deported 40 Nigerians, the second deportation in one month.

The deportees, arrived at the hajj camp area of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) at 7:25a.m. with chartered aircraft and Air Seychelles flight.

The chartered flight with registration number ZTA-4741 brought in 36 Nigerians comprising 29 males and seven females, while Air Seychelles with registration number SND-1 bought in four males into he country.

The deportees were accused of committing immigration offences that were not specified by the deporting countries.
THISDAY gathered that apart from Nigerians that were deported by the two countries, some citizens of Africa especially from Ghana, Liberia and Egypt were equally deported alongside the Nigerians.

The returnees were received by various agencies such as NIS that checked their identities to ascertain their nationalities, police, National Agency for Protection and Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and other relevant stakeholders.

Airport sources said some of the deportees were violent when officers of the NIS attached to the international wing of the airport attempted to collect their fingerprints for data purpose, which angered the officers and they decided to attend to those who were not restive and later allowed to leave the airport after completing their documentation.
The deportees refused to field questions and were unwilling to talk to anybody.

Their faces wore a mask of frustration and disappointment refused to speak with our correspondent as some of them waited for any available means to get out of the airport without attracting much attention to themselves.
The deportees it was gathered were returned from their host countries for overstaying their visas and other immigration offences.

Spokesman of Immigration, Mr. Ekpedeme King confirmed the deportation and said that the Service was still waiting for more details from Lagos.

In April this year, 48 Nigerians were jointly deported by UK and Swiss governments for residing in their countries illegally.