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Some of the returnees last week at MMIA

I travelled in October 2016. The journey was very tough; we passed many obstacles the immigration, police, the desert. When we finally got to Libya, we suffered even more. We have to earn money to eat and to pay our burger- the people that took us there. They deceived us. They told me I was going there to work, they didnt tell me I was going there to do prostitution.

When I got there, they forced us to sleep with men and they collect the money. They said we have to pay them all the money they spent bringing us from Nigeria and the amount we owed was N700,000. So any day we sleep with men, they collect the money, she said.

Now finally free and back in Nigeria, Ogechi pleaded with Nigerian government to help stop the human trafficking and forced prostitution.Nigerian government should help us, we dont want to go back to that kind of work again, she pleaded. Another returnee, Vivian kelechi, 24 years, said she was also deceived into prostitution. I thought it was a normal job I will do, I never knew it was prostitution. I suffered a lot, the guy that took me there said he bought me from someone else so I had to pay him back, she said.

Every day after being abused by different men, Vivian said she has to still pay her owner from the money she made. The guy that took me there said I have to repay him for the travel expenses. He said the money was N650,000. What is paining me is that I have lost everything, I have nothing now, my mum is dead and I couldnt take care of her. I did ashawo work for nothing, my womb is down now, Each time I want to bath, I feel my womb and I know I have infection, she told The Guardian reporter.

With teary eyes, Vivian narrated why she had to travel to Libya in the first place: I was about to write my WAEC, but I had to drop out of school because my mum was sick. When my mums sickness got worse, someone told me about the travel and I agreed because I needed the money to help my mum. We need Nigerian government to help us with jobs so we will not go back to this kind of work again. Aminat Adewale, 26 years old, from Ogun State also has similar story to tell.I travelled last year August. We were deceived, the woman that took us told us we were going to Italy, not by road but by air. So many people died on the road, I am even lucky to be alive. When we reached Libya the woman sold us, she recalled.

With face full of agony she cried; They didnt tell us the kind of job we will do, they forced us into prostitution and made us pay them. After all her travail, Aminat said she was happy to be back in Nigeria. I chose to travel because I couldnt get job after my school. I learnt nursing after my secondary school, but when I checked the hospital requirement and found out that I dont have that, I have to look for a way to survive. If our government had helped us, we wouldnt bother to travel to another country, she said. For 21-year-old Deborah Ebiwonjumi, hers was a case of exploitation and physical abuse. The indigene of Ondo State, who came back with a broken hand, had suffered severe physical abuse. According to her, her parents were deceived by some people who promised her a decent job in Libya.

I travelled to Libya February 2016. Some people told my parents that they will help me get work in Libya, when I got there, the madam I was working for beat me. Last month, she told me to bring soap, when I brought it, she pushed me and I fell down. She told her husband that I poured the soap on the floor deliberately, she beat me and I broke my hand, then they took me to the hospital and abandoned me there. When I recovered, I didnt know the address of my madam, so the police came and took me to prison, she said.

Gift Peters, another returnee, said they were forced to drink urine of people when they refused to do indecent work.I got to Libya 11 months ago after being deceived that I was being taken to Germany. At Libya, they sold me to someone who has a connection house in Libya, where we were maltreated daily. If we dont want to work, they will do something to you that will make you wish to die. Sometimes they use iron to burn us. At times, they will instruct our fellow ladies to urinate for us to drink, she said.

It would be recalled that about 171 Nigerians voluntarily returned from Libya on Tuesday aboard a chartered Nouvelair aircraft with registration number TS-1NB. They were brought back by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), and the Nigerian Embassy in Libya.

Majority of the returnees were young women. The Director, Search and Rescue, NEMA, Salisu Mohammed, who gave a breakdown of the returnees, said they were made up of 109 females, 49 males, seven children and six infants.

On ground to receive them at Murtala Mohammed airport Lagos, were officials of the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, IOM, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, the Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, the National Agency for the Protection of Trafficking in Person (NAPTIP), and the Police.

In an exclusive interview with The Guardian, Head of Sub -Office, IOM Lagos, Nahashon Thuo, said the organisation has been trying its best to see that the returnees are reintegrated back to the society. The IOM gave NGN 19,695 to support each of them on the rest of their journeys home. Thirty-two of the most vulnerable returnees (mothers with young children, medical cases, unaccompanied minors) in the group will receive in kind, assistance of approximately NGN 390 000 to support their reintegration into Nigerian communities. This assistance can be used to set up a small business or pay for education or for medical costs, he said.

Dr. Nahashon called on government and philantropists to assist in the rehabilitation process. According to him: There is still a lot that needs to be done to support the reintegration of the migrants, who would all benefit from vocational training and grants to set up small businesses. More can also be done to educate young men and women about the dangers of migrating to other countries without proper documentation. For now, IOMs full reintegration assistance is currently limited to supporting the most vulnerable migrants.

Addressing journalists, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, commended the IOM for facilitating the return of the Nigerians.

She said: Like I told them, they are not criminals. These are people that have gone in search of greener pastures. However, it turned out to be a terrible experience for them. Times are tough, things are difficult but your country is the best place to be.

According to her, the Federal Government, IOM and some states have put up programmes in place to rehabilitate Nigerians who volunteered to return from Libya in order to reintegrate them into the society.

A lot of them dont know where they are going to. There is a lot of ignorance here. Some of them are trafficked and they get there with nothing. The message here is that illegal migration is not worth it because as tough as the country is today, you are better off here than being in those places, Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa said.

She reiterated governments commitment to the welfare of Nigerians all over the world, stressing that it was currently addressing the issue of xenophobic attacks on Nigerians living in South Africa.

19 Feb Sunday Magazine

12 Feb CityFile

12 Feb Sunday Magazine

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Libya returnees: How we were forced into prostitution - Guardian

The military administration in eastern Libya has banned men and women between the ages of 18 and 45 from traveling abroad without explicit permission, a week after introducing a ban on women traveling alone.

The chief of staff in the eastern Libyan government, Abdel-Razek al-Nadhouri, said the measure was imposed to prevent people from joining terrorist networks abroad, the BBC reported.

Libyans who wish to to travel outside the country will now require permits from the ministry of interior or intelligence agency in the administration.

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Libyans take part in a celebration marking the sixth anniversary of the Libyan revolution, which toppled strongman Muammar el-Qaddafi, in Benghazi on February 17. Since Qaddafi's demise, Libya has been split by rival governments. ABDULLAH DOMA/AFP/Getty

Libya has several rival governments competing for power: There is a U.N.-backed administration, known as the Government of National Accord, based in Tripoli, while the eastern government is backed by the Libyan army and overseen by Khalifa Haftar, a top military general. A third administration has recently emerged in Tripoli, calling itself the National Salvation Government.

Al-Nadhouri announced an order on February 16 banning women under 60 from traveling abroad without a male companion. The chief of staff said women were being used as spies under the guise of working for civil society groups, but womens rights activists in Libya denounced the move.

The eastern government backtracked and suspended the order on Tuesday, following a meeting between al-Nadhouri and the director of eastern Libyas civil society commission, Abir Mneina, the BBC reported. But now the eastern administration has broadened the scope of travel restrictions in the country.

Since the toppling of longtime leader Muammar el-Qaddafi in 2011, Libya has been in a state of instability, with rival factions competing for political control and militias multiplying across the country. The chaos has allowed militant groups to take root in the country, including al-Qaeda and the Islamic State militant group (ISIS,) although forces allied to the U.N.-backed Tripoli government recently liberated the coastal city of Sirte, which was ISISs main stronghold in Libya.

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East Libya Bans 18-45-Year-Olds From Traveling Abroad - Newsweek

Tripoli - Armed groups traded fire with heavy weapons in the centre of Tripoli, injuring at least nine people and paralysing the Libyan capital, residents and the Red Crescent said on Friday.

"Our team... rescued nine people injured in the indiscriminate firing," said the Libyan Red Crescent, which has set up a field hospital on a roundabout on the fringes of the urban combat zone.

There was no official casualty toll from the clashes which raged most of Thursday night and resumed the following day after a truce collapsed.

The fighting between two rival armed groups in eastern Tripoli erupted after one accused the other of kidnapping four of its members, the Tripoli-based news agency LANA reported.

It said families trapped in the conflict zone of Abu Slim were appealing to the authorities to intervene to halt the violence which has closed down the city centre.

Mediators had secured an overnight ceasefire but fighting later resumed, LANA said.

"Two apartments in housing blocks on the airport road were hit by rockets. I can see columns of smoke," local resident Nuria al-Mosbahi told AFP.

Other residents said tanks and trucks mounted with heavy anti-aircraft guns had criss-crossed the zone, leaving behind several burnt-out cars.

In the absence of a statement from the Government of National Accord which is based in Tripoli, a leading political figure, Aguila Saleh, issued a condemnation of the violence.

"What's happening in Tripoli is a terrorist and criminal act which destabilises... citizens and the institutions of state," he said.

Libya has been submerged in chaos since the fall and killing of longtime dictator Moammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed 2011 armed uprising.

Rival political authorities and militias have since been vying for control of territory and Libya's oil wealth.

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At least 9 hurt as heavy fire paralyses Libya capital - News24

CAIRO At least 74 bodies of African migrants have washed ashore in western Libya, the Libyan Red Crescent said Tuesday, the latest tragedy at sea along a perilous but increasingly popular trafficking route to Europe.

The bodies were found near the western Libyan city of Zawiya on Monday, Red Crescent spokesman Mohammed al-Misrati told The Associated Press, adding that he feared more might surface. He said a torn rubber boat, the kind that usually carry up to 120 people, was found nearby.

The Red Crescent's branch in Zawiya said there are bodies still floating out at sea but it has no means to retrieve them.

The International Organization of Migration said the traffickers took the engine and left the boat to drift. Another 12 migrants remain missing and are "presumed drowned," and a sole survivor was transferred to a hospital in a coma, the U.N. migration agency said on Twitter.

FRENCH FARMER CONVICTED FOR HELPING MIGRANTS

The Red Crescent posted photographs of dozens of bodies in white and black bags, lined up along the shore. Al-Misrati said the bodies would be taken to a cemetery for unidentified people in the capital, Tripoli. The Red Crescent appealed for help on Facebook, saying there are no vehicles to transport the bodies.

Al-Misrati had initially said the bodies were found overnight Tuesday, but later clarified that they were recovered Monday afternoon and evening.

Libyan coast guard spokesman Ayoub Gassim said over 500 migrants were rescued at sea on Friday and Saturday off the coast of Sebratha, a city to the west of Zawiya. The migrants' boats were about 5-7 miles (8-11 kilometers) from the coast.

Gassim said the smugglers pack larger rubber boats with up to 180 people, dramatically increasing the risk of capsizing.

"We are seeing the new boats, which are not equipped with anything, but they carry more people," he said. "This is going to be even more disastrous for the migrants."

AMI HOROWITZ DEFENDS SWEDEN REFUGEE CLAIMS FROM BACKLASH OVER TRUMP REMARKS

The Libya to Italy smuggling route across the Mediterranean has seen record numbers of migrant drownings in 2016, Fabrice Leggeri, director of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, said last week. Some 4,579 migrant deaths were documented in 2016, up from 2,869 deaths the previous year and 3,161 in 2014. The real number of deaths is believed to be much higher.

Leggeri blamed the small dinghies and poor vessels used by the smugglers for the high death rate. The smugglers also appear more willing to brave the choppy winter sea. January alone saw 228 recorded deaths, by far the biggest monthly toll in recent years. IOM says the latest tragedy brings the total death toll this year to 365.

More than 180,000 people made the crossing last year, an increase of 17 percent from 2015.

Libya was plunged into turmoil by the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, and has since emerged as a popular, if extremely dangerous, route to Europe for those fleeing poverty and civil war elsewhere in Africa.

Libya is largely governed by local militias, many of which profit from the trafficking. Rights groups say migrants traversing Libya have been tortured, raped and subjected to forced labor.

SPAIN RESCUES 112 MIGRANTS OFF LIBYAN COAST, 36 MORE AT SEA

The European Union has plans to halt the tide by training the Libyan coast guard and stepping up cooperation with neighboring Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt. But rights groups fear that such measures could leave tens of thousands of migrants stranded in the restive country.

The plan would also require a much stronger Libyan government capable of controlling the country's waters. At present, Libya is split between two competing governments which convene in different parts of the country.

The head of Doctors Without Borders, Arjan Hehenkamp, says the EU plan shows that it is "delusional about just how dangerous the situation in Libya really is."

His organization, also known by its French acronym MSF, has aided in the sea rescues. He said survivors have recounted starving in Libyan detention centers and other abuses.

Earlier this month, Italy reached a deal with the U.N.-brokered government in Tripoli, which is not recognized by rival authorities in the east, to train and equip the Libyan coast guard and improve conditions in detention centers.

Mohamed Siala, the foreign minister of the U.N.-backed government, told the AP that 70 coast guards have received training and a second group will follow. He denied allegations by critics that the deal would pave the way for the resettlement of migrants inside Libya.

He expressed fear, however, that the flow of migrants would increase this spring, saying rescue operations have encouraged more migrants to risk the journey.

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Bodies of 74 migrants heading to Europe wash up in Libya - Fox News

GENEVA

The International Organization for Migration reports a surge in the number of migrant deaths on the Mediterranean Seas central route linking Libya to Italy in the first two months of the year.

The IOM estimates 326 migrants and refugees have died this year while transiting by sea from Libya to Italy, compared to just 97 fatalities during the same period last year.

While the numbers are alarming, IOM spokesman Joel Millman said they do not reflect the full scope of the sea tragedies as many bodies are never recovered and an unknown number of victims remain missing.

He said most of the victims are migrants from sub-Saharan Africa. However, he told VOA not everyone making the perilous sea journey in smugglers' boats is a migrant who intended to go to Europe.

FILE - An image taken from video shot on Jan. 27, 2017 by the Italian Coast Guard shows migrants being rescued from members of Italian Coast Guard vessel Diciotti in the central Mediterranean sea.

There is a thriving business in kidnapping right now in Libya," said Millman, "where people are being taken off the street, held to paid ransom and forced into these boats just because the ransom takers are done with them and they do not want to try to pick them up again and go through the long process of trying to ring a few hundred euros out of a family somewhere thousands of miles to the south.

Millman said that is not the only horrendous crime being perpetrated against the defenseless people. He said human smugglers have been employing another, potentially lethal tactic stealing engines from the boats and leaving the vessels drifting in the water with people aboard.

They do not know whether this is the Mafia that is cracking down on competition, that is not paying and punishing them by taking the engine, or weather and it could be a mixture of both," he said. "Parts and vessels are so hard to come by now, with the amount of migrants that are coming through, that the smugglers just feel that they need to recover the expensive parts of their operation, the components as quickly as they can.

Millman said passengers are promised that a rescue ship is on its way. He said in many cases that has happened, but there have been other instances where the migrants have been left adrift without any help on the horizon.

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Migrant Fatalities Surge on Libya-Italy Mediterranean Route - Voice of America