5000 Nigerians trapped in Libyan camps

Government is battling to get to places in Libya where about 5,000 Nigerians are detained, Charge d’Affaires of Nigeria in Libya, Mr Illiya Fachano has said.

He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN):“there is a camp with 5000 Nigerians and we need the diplomatic police to escort us to extract them.

`There are various camps in the regions of South, West and East of Libya.

“The UN-backed Libyan Government is in the western region which is where Tripoli is.

“Camps in the other regions are known but inaccessible camps due to the challenges of going into these camps as a communication chain is required before we can reach them,” he said.

The charge d’affaires said the Nigerian government had been in talks with the recognised government in Tripoli on how to reach some of the camps to extract its nationals.

Fachano called for the provision of a bigger aircraft to evacuate Nigerians who has have agreed to come back home.

“We need the Nigerian government to better fund its embassy in Libya and send the aircraft.

“We have made our request for that”.

He called on the UN to help out by sponsoring repatriation flights, provide food and health materials for the migrants.

The charge d’affaires said the Federal Government had so far repatriated 3250 from Libya in recent times.

This is even as 300 other Nigerians are to be repatriated f every week.

Fachano said the government would continue to make efforts to save Nigerians that are trapped in Libya.

“We, the embassy of Nigeria in Tripoli, Libya, have been doing our best to register Nigerians.”