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Repatriation of Liberian
refugees from Nigeria begins
By Tayo Elebijo,
Senior
Correspondent,
The International Office of
Migration (IOM) has begun the final airlifting of Liberian refugees who
were brought to Nigeria at the peak of the country�s civil war.
IOM, which is an offspring of
the United Nations, began the airlifting of 113 refugees on Monday after
it was satisfied that they were medically fit to embark on the trip back
to their country.
The refugees thronged the
newly commissioned office of the IOM at 15 Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, saying
they were fed up with the constant postponement of their journey back home
by the IOM officials.
They claimed that most of them
who had been gainfully employed had abandoned their jobs because the IOM
promised that they were going back to their country since September this
year.
But an IOM official from
Accra, Ghana, Dr. Bernard Opare, told Daily Independent that the total
airlifting of the refugees had been planned for this week, but the
Bellview Airlines disappointed us. His words: �We had a contract with the
Bellview Airlines to airlift the refugees this week but after the initial
airlifting of 113 refugees on Monday they came back to tell us that they
have shifted the planned airlifting to next week�.
Dr. Bernard further said that
he and his team had to be sent from Accra because the IOM in Nigeria is a
small office, stating that the IOM can only airlift some of the refugees
next Monday since the nationwide strike in Nigeria will begin next
Tuesday.
Bernard, who is the medical
coordinator of the IOM in West Africa, said he and his team will have to
go back to Accra until the strike is over in Nigeria before coming to
airlift the remaining refugees.
However, some of the refugees
who spoke to Daily Independent said they want to go back to Liberia
because the cost of living in Nigeria was too high. �We want to go back
because Nigeria is too hard for us. One needs N1,000 to cook a day�s meal
whereas in Liberia one Liberian dollar is enough to feed comfortably
well�.
Some of the refugees; Emmanuel
Zio, Prince Zoe, Florence Teah and Alanice Goffa, told Daily Independent
that the UN High Commission for refugees have not been doing their work
properly, saying �they abandoned us, they allowed us to sleep in bad
places, they refused us food�.
They particularly singled out
the secretary to the UNHCR representatives in Nigeria, Mrs. Magdalene, who
they alleged was inhuman to them, insisting that it was the efforts of
some missionaries and other well meaning Nigerians who have been going to
the refugee camp to supply food and medications.
When Daily Independent visited
the UNHCR office on 13, Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, the UNHCR representative, his
deputy and other top officials were said to have travelled out of the
country but the representative�s secretary, Mrs. Magdalene, declined
comments on the matter.
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