The United Kingdom has deported about 41 Nigerians for committing various immigration offences.
The deportees who were brought into the country in the early morning of Wednesday comprised 33 males and eight females.
They arrived through the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos at 7:55 am with a chartered aircraft painted in white and blue colours.
THISDAY learnt that some of the offences of the deportees included holding and wielding expired and fake travel documents and illegal entry into UK through different routes.
Informed source from the Nigerian Immigration Service said some of them had sought for asylum status in UK, which was not granted by the immigration authorities, while some had spent between 24 and two years in UK before they were deported.
The Nigerians wore sad, sullen faces; eccentric, irascible and very hostile to journalists who wanted to speak with them, as they clutched on their luggage, largely “Ghana Must Go” bags.
But one of the deportees who simply identified himself as Charles told newsmen that he entered the UK with a Visiting Visa about two years ago, which had since expired.
He said he regretted his deportation, saying that it would now be difficult for him to enter the UK again, but bemoaned the bad economic situation in Nigeria.
“I didn’t enter UK with fake papers. I actually applied through the UK Embassy in Lagos and I was issued a six months visa, but when my visa expired, I decided to stay back there because there is no job in Nigeria.
“I’ve actually spent two years in the UK before I was arrested by the security authorities at my workplace. I regret not leaving the country at the right time especially when my visa was due. With this now, I won’t be able to return to that country. I just hope that our government can make Nigeria comfortable for its citizenry as a lot of us want to work and earn a living for ourselves,” Charles said.
Some of the deportees were later seen loitering around the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Plc gate while others tried to make telephone contact to some of their family members to take them out of the airport.
A source closed to one of the agencies involved in the repatriation of illegal immigrants said that most of the deportees were returned from the UK for criminal offences.
However, a source close to the Nigerian Immigration Service confirmed that most of the deportees entered the UK through illegal means while documents of others who initially had genuine papers had expired, adding that none of the deportees had major criminal records before their deportation and would be left to go to their various destinations after going through the immigration process.
