Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has ordered the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Refugee Commission and other relevant organizations to evacuate the over 4,000 remaining Nigerians who are currently stranded in Libya.

He gave the directive on Wednesday when he summoned the agencies to the State House, Abuja for a joint review of the situation with the aim of taking a firm and lasting position on the matter.

In his opening remark, Osinbajo reiterated the commitment of the current administration to ensuring that young Nigerians were protected from the dangers inherent in travelling through the Sahara Desert in attempt to cross the Mediterranean sea into Europe.

Speaking to State House correspondents after the meeting, the Chief Executive Officer of the Refugees Commission, Sadi Umar Faruk disclosed that no fewer than 7,950 Nigerians have so far been repatriated to the country while another 4,600 were still being expected.

He said a committee consisting of the relevant agencies has been constituted with the sole aim of coming up with a solution to the issue of migration to Libya.

His words: “A committee has been set up consisting of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NAPTIP, the Refugee Commission and NEMA to come up with terms of reference as how to go about solving the issue of Libya migrants and also what happened in Italy.

“I think so far, they have repatriated about 7,000 and daily, they are coming in. As I speak to you now, a plane is arriving with about 250 migrants. So we are expecting more on daily basis. I think I was speaking with the Director General of NEMA and he said so far, about 4,600 are expected,” Faruk added.