The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) has kickstarted moves for Nigerians in Tunisia to return to their home country.
This follows recent inflammatory comments by Tunisian President, Kais Saied, against Sub-Saharan migrants in that country which have exposed them to verbal and physical attacks from indigenous populations.
In a statement on Monday, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the NiDCOM chairperson, said Asari Allotey, Nigeria’s ambassador to Tunisia, was consulting with the Nigerian community on an evacuation plan.
Kais Saied, Tunisia’s president, had in a meeting of his country’s national security council on February 21, called for urgent measures against sub-Saharan migrants.
According to the Cable News, Saied claimed that migrants were behind most crimes in the North African country, thus fueling a spate of sackings, evictions, and attacks.
Reacting to the development, Dabiri-Erewa twitted:
“Here is an update on the situation in Tunisia, where blacks have been victims of racial attacks. Our ambassador is in consultation with the Nigerian community, on a decision on evacuation.
“Those that have agreed to return to Nigeria are very few and the mission is working with the IOM to arrange tickets for them.
“The many others want to wait it out, praying it will soon pass, following the intervention of the AU and the African Group of Ambassadors.
“Though we don’t have a large community of Nigerians in Tunisia, as many of them are those rescued from the Mediterranean after failed attempts to cross from Libya, the mission will update if they do request to return.”
President Kais Saied blamed migrants for a rise in violent crime. He ordered security forces to stop all illegal migration and expel all ‘undocumented migrants’ for rising crime and other social vices in the country.
Nairametrics reported that Ivory Coast, Mali and Guinea began evacuating their citizens from Tunisia last week.
The African Union cancelled a conference it planned to hold in Tunisia later this month over reported attacks on migrants in the North African country.
