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LAGOS, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- At least 171 Nigerians voluntarily returned from Libya on Tuesday aboard a chartered Nouvelair aircraft .
The aircraft with registration number TS-1NB landed about 4 p.m. at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, Nigeria's economic hub.
The returnees included seven children and six infants.
Another batch comprising 161 Nigerians, had on Feb. 14 also voluntarily returned from the North African country where they had been stranded.
The new set of returnees were brought back by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the Nigerian Embassy in Libya.
Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora who addressed reporters at the airport, commended the IOM for facilitating the return of the Nigerians.
According to her, the Nigerian government, IOM and some states have put in place programs to rehabilitate Nigerians who volunteered to return from Libya.
She reiterated the government's commitment to the welfare of Nigerians all over the world, while stressing that it was addressing the issue of xenophobic attacks on Nigerians living in South Africa.
The official described the attacks as shameful, noting that it was wrong to generalize Nigerians in the country as criminals. Enditem
