No fewer than 4,281 Nigerians were deported from several European, American and African countries through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, between January and June this year.
This gives an average figure of 24 Nigerians deported daily via the airport in the first six months.
Figures obtained from the Ministry of Interior showed that the deportees comprised 2,823 males and 1,458 females.
According to the document, 2,251 of the deportees arrived in the country through chartered flights while 2,030 others came by regular flights.
It was gathered that some of the deportees, who were allegedly involved in criminal activities in their host countries, were handed over to the Police, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons for further prosecution.
Some of the returnees are believed to have arrived from war-ravaged Libya from where they had sought to travel to Europe via the Mediterranean. Many of those were assisted by the International Organisation for Migration, IOM, to return to Nigeria with some narrating their sad ordeal.
Also, a total of 691,934 travellers departed while another 560,988 arrived in the country through the Lagos airport during the same period.
Out of these numbers, 519,215 were Nigerians while another 179,739 were foreigners departing the country.
During the period, 550,988 passengers arrived in Nigeria through MMIA comprising 392,237 Nigerians and 158,751 foreigners.
