Some Nigerians in Libya living with mental health conditions — Community leader

Dabiri

President of the Nigerian community in Libya, Mr Peter Omoregbe, has said thousands of Nigerians are stranded and living with mental health conditions in the North African country after failing to migrate to Europe.

Omoregbe said this in reaction to a statement made by the Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, that over 7,000 Nigerian nationals were stranded in Libya.

The NiDCOM boss raised an alarm during the week that the situation had reached “deeply troubling” levels for the Nigerian government and international organisations to intervene.

Reacting in an interview with PUNCH Diaspora Tales, Omoregbe said many homeless Nigerians in Libya were sleeping on the streets, while some languished in prisons.Refund Salary, Others

The Nigerian community leader stated that the majority of Nigerians became stranded after their passage to destinations, such as Italy, Spain, and other European countries did not materialise.

“Even five flights cannot take all of them if one airplane carries about 500 passengers,” he said. “Moreso, each stranded individual needs about N1m to return to Nigeria, which they can’t afford at the moment.”

Speaking on how they found themselves in the situation, he said, “It was easy about five years ago to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, but it is no longer like that at the moment.”

“Those who cannot cross to Italy, Spain, and Europe after passing through the deserts end up here in Libya. The European governments are collaborating with the Libyan authorities to block the Mediterranean Sea. There is no way for many of them to cross; so they are stranded there.”

“Some of them ended up in prison when they were about to enter the capital city, which is Tripoli, because they came in illegally,” Omoregbe lamented.