LAGOS, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Some 146 Nigerians repatriated by Niger returned home, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), an agency that focuses on disaster management in all parts of Nigeria, said Wednesday.
Receiving the returnees at the international airport in the northern city of Kano Wednesday, Nuraddeen Abdullahi, a NEMA co-coordinator in Kano, said the returnees were brought back through a voluntary repatriation program of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Abdullahi said the program was meant for distressed people who left the country in search of "greener pastures" in various European countries but only found themselves stranded in transit countries.
The returnees include 56 male adults, 39 female adults and 51 children from different states of Nigeria.
"The returnees would undergo training for three days on how to achieve self-sustainability and would be provided with seed capital to enable them to become self-reliant," he said.
Abdullahi cautioned Nigerians against attempting a hazardous journey abroad while neglecting potential opportunities available domestically. ■