Ayade Orders employment of Lybia returnees

Cross River Governor, Ben Ayade

By Kingsley Agim

Cross River State Governor, Senator Ben Ayade has ordered suitable employment and absorption of Libya returnees of Cross River origin currently undergoing the state funded rehabilitation programme.

The disclosure was made by the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Barr. (Mrs.) RoseMary Effiom Archibong during her visit on Thursday to the returnees rehabilitation centre in Calabar.

Mrs. Archibong while thanking God for the safe arrival of the returnees, also expressed gratitude to the State Governor for his interest in the returnees and his desire to get them gainfully employed and engaged in profitable ventures.

The Information boss urged youths to disabuse their minds from the erroneous notion that pastures abroad are only greener, saying “home is home; you can make anything out of your life at home once the determination is made.”

She welcomed the returnees home and wished them God’s blessings in their new lease of life.

Recounting her ordeal in Libya, one of the returnees, Miss Christiana John, who hails from Ugep in Yakurr Local Government of Cross River State, depicted her experience in Libya as awful, asking youths to jettison the idea of undue connections and fortunes abroad.

Another returnee, Mr. Osim Stephen, a native of Abi Local Government Area of the State, described Libya as “a death zone,” and called on Nigerian youths to avoid the risk of unlawfully travelling abroad for the incessant quest for greener pastures.

Stephen recalled how lives are lost enroute the Sahara Desert and Mediterranean Sea, and the stark reality of prostitution, forced labour, drug trafficking and slavery that beckons on arrival to the "so-called new destination".

He called on youths to report to the nearest law enforcement agency, anyone who tries, in whatever guise, to unjustly lure them to travelling abroad.

He urged the Government and relevant authorities to delve into a rescue mission of Nigerians languishing in dehumanizing and subhuman conditions in Libya.