Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday said the Federal Government has started bringing back stranded citizens home from Libya following the global outcry over reports that migrants were being sold into slavery.

President Buhari’s comments came after the Cable News Network (CNN) aired a footage  showing stranded men being auctioned as farm hands in Libya after being held in detention camps.

“The situation in Libya, of people being sold into slavery, is appalling and unacceptable. We will do everything to protect our citizens wherever they might be,” President Buhari wrote on his Twitter account.

“Nigeria had started bringing back home all Nigerians stranded in Libya and elsewhere,” the tweet added.

The United Nations International Organization for Migration said on Tuesday that more than 230 Nigerians have so far been flown home from Tripoli.

The Organization said Nigerian migrants risked being exploited, detained and abused as they head north to Libya, hoping to cross the Mediterranean into  Europe in search of greener pastures.

President Buhari is currently in Abidjan, Ivory Coast where the African Union – European Union (AU-EU) Summit which focuses on the African youth and migration is ongoing.