NIDCOM: Many Stranded Nigerians in UAE are Freed Criminals

The Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has said many of the Nigerians claiming to be stranded in the United Arab Emirates UAE were freed criminals, who had served various jail sentences, ranging from drugs to credit card frauds, and robberies, among others.

Dabiri-Erewa said this in a statement issued yesterday by the Commission’s Head of Media, Public Relations and Protocols, Abdur-Rahman Balogun.

The NIDCOM boss, while warning Nigerians, who illegally travelled to the UAE and were stranded there not to make an already bad case worse by resorting to media blackmail, said in line with its citizens diplomacy, the federal government had approved the evacuation of over 300 Nigerians stranded in the UAE.

Regrettably, she said many of those affected had not been totally cooperative as they refused to follow the laid down procedures.

She added that investigations also revealed that over 100 Nigerians, who had served various jail sentences suddenly landed at the holding centres, demanding of the Nigerian consulate in Dubai to “immediately “bring them back. Their voices have been the loudest.”

She decried that rather than comply with the directives of the Nigerian consulate in Dubai, some Nigerians were busy pursuing a media blackmail against the federal government as well as the UAE government.

Dabiri-Erewa, who recalled that several warnings were made to Nigerians, particularly, on the zero tolerance of the UAE for the consequences of flouting their rules, maintained that the allegation that Nigerians were abandoned in Dubai was completely untrue and misleading.

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She disclosed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nigerian Mission had been working assiduously with the UAE authorities to assist over 300 Nigerians stranded in the country for various reasons, ranging from overstay, lost passports, lack of documentation especially, in the case of infants, to pending cases with the Emirati Police.

She, however, advised Nigerians so affected to comply with the laid down rules and regulations as stipulated by the UAE and the Nigeria Consulate in Dubai , and await further communication from officials of the mission, who have constantly visited them at the holding centre.