1500 Nigerians in Italian prisons, says envoy
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thank god the government is doing a lot to repatriate them through chattered flights1 the italian ambassador to nigeria stefanou pontesilli says no fewer than 1500 nigerians are serving jail terms for various offences in italy1 in italy we have about 1500 nigerians in jail for various offences. it is a big number1 we sometimes send them back to nigeria once they finished their terms because they have not behaved well he said1 he however denied reports that italy sometimes send nigerian migrants from italy to libya1 never we never sent anyone not even one single person to libya1 some nigerians are stuck in libya because they were never able to cross over to italy but all those who went to italy no one not even one was ever sent back1 all nigerians who have reached italy and are behaving well have no problem1 not one of them not even one has heard of being sent back to libya he said1 according to him thousands of nigerians unable to cross from libya to italy have been stuck in libya1 pontesilli who made the disclosure in an interview with newsmen in abuja said the number was huge1 thanks for the help from the european union and the international organisation for migrations that are slowly repatriating them back to nigeria he said1 the envoy said that the relationship between italy and nigeria remained stronger1 that is why italy has been doing so much on the migration by saving tens and thousands of the nigerians lives when crossing the mediterranean1 authority has been doing so much by taking them to italy feeding them getting them jobs giving them house and trying to give them a new life pontesilli said1 he said that italy had also done a lot in trying to help nigeria maintain security and stability1 this to italy is very important the stability and the security of nigeria is our foremost consideration1 we think that without a stable secure country there cannot be development1 so thats why we stand strongly behind president muhammadu buhari trying to establish a strong safe and stable nigeria1 this to us is the number one priority of the country we are doing all we can to support this he said1 the envoy disclosed that the italian government had been involved in training many nigerian officials from the military police and immigration1