At least 129 Nigerians stranded at Agadez, Niger Republic were on Saturday received by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in Kano.
NEMA Coordinator, Kano Territorial Office, Dr Nuradeen Abdullahi, gave the figure when he received the returnees.
The returnees arrived Kano in three luxury buses organised by the International Organisation on Migration (IOM).
“The returnees were brought back through a voluntary repatriation programme for those who left Nigeria to seek greener pastures in various European countries but could not get to their destinations and became frustrated,’’ Abdullahi said.
Among the returnees were 125 male, two female and two children.
According to the coordinator, the returnees are from different parts of Nigeria; some from Kano, Gombe and Anambra states.
They were handed toiletries and clothes and fed on arrival.
One of them, Ummi Aliyu from Kano State – a widow and mother of nine, said she travelled with two of her kids up to Algeria in search of greener pasture.
“I am a widow; that was why I left my seven other children in Nigeria to travel outside the country to get enough money to take good care of them,’’ she said.
Another returnee, James Kelechi from Anambra, said that he operated a medicine store before he left Nigeria in search of greener pasture.
“My business was not moving fine; that was why I decided to travel to Italy in search of greener pasture,’’ he said.