At least 41 Nigerians were on Wednesday deported from the United Kingdom. This is the first of the 83 Nigerians expected home for breach of Britain’s immigration laws. They arrived at the cargo terminal of Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja, Lagos, in a chartered Airbus 330 aircraft which touched down at exactly 7:40a.m. They comprised 33 males and eight females who are all adolescents. They were said to have been deported for immigration related offences as most of them had expired visas.
They quietly left the airport after their profiling by the immigration officials. Officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Nigerian Air Force (NAF), policemen and aviation security personnel were on ground to receive the deportees. The deportees resisted journalists who were trying to capture their faces while searching for their luggage. The deportees did not speak on their ordeal in the European nation.
NEMA Director-General, Alhaji Mohammed Sidi, said the deportees would be given a “token” to go back to their respective destinations.