The agency’s director of search and rescue, Charles Otegbade, an air commodore, who made this disclosure, also told journalists in Geidam, Yobe State, that the agency was not ruling out the possibility of the number of deportees increasing before the end of the week.
“We just received communication from Nigerien government that another set of 3,000 persons are being sent to us. We will be going to the border post to take custody of the people. Before we came here the information we received from Niger is that about 2,000 Nigerians would be delivered to us but now see what we have on ground.”
He said that officials of NEMA would remain in Geidam till they take custody of all the expected deportees and send them back to their respective states.
Otegbade revealed that the returnees are from Taraba, Adamawa, Sokoto, Kebbi, Benue, Zamfara, Borno, Yobe, Bauchi and Kano.
He said arrangements had already been made to transport the returnees to their respective states, stressing that contact has been made with the emergency management agencies of the concerned states.
He also revealed that most of those that had arrived were without any health issue and were emotionally stable.
Otegbade, however, said three pregnant women in the first batch complained about some minor health challenges and they were quickly taken to health facilities in Geidam.
Geidam is currently acting as a transit town and has two camps for deportees, one at the stadium and the other is located at a primary school in town.
Most of the deportees are fishermen who left Nigeria for Niger Republic in search of greener pasture.
Some of them who spoke with our correspondent claimed that they were treated harshly by the Nigerien military.
Danjuma Agaga, a deportee said they had to trek a long distance before they could get transport to Nigeria.
A pregnant woman, Fatima Ali, claimed that during the long trek four other expectant women died.
She said that many Nigerians who would have loved to come back home were still trapped in the area.