The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, has explained the delay in evacuating the fourth batch of stranded Nigerians in Libya.
The agency said the activities of militant groups in the North African country was affecting its operation.
Speaking with journalists at the Port Harcourt International Airport at the weekend, the South-South Coordinator of NEMA, Ejike Martins, said 465 stranded Nigerians were airlifted from Libya to Nigeria as the fourth batch of returnees.
“We understand there was problem at the Tripoli Airport among militia groups and there was a shootout and this affected flight movement from that airport.
“The closure of the airport as a result of the activities of the militia groups delayed the return. But the airport has been reopened,” said the NEMA coordinator who is also the Head of Operations for the exercise.
“As usual, this is in continuation of the evacuation of stranded Nigerians in Libya. We have 465 returnees, who are going immediately for profiling. An exercise of this nature is said to have hitches.
“These returnees are not camped in one place there. They are negotiated out of where they are held. So the Federal Government gathers them from one place to another.
“The Federal Government is making frantic effort to ensure the evacuation is carried out as planned. It requires process and we are following it.”
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