198 NGERIANS DEPORTED FROM SAUDI ARABIA

The Federal Government on Saturday received no fewer than 198 Nigerians illegally residing in Saudi Arabia at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport at about 10 am.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that this number was out of the 1,800 Nigerians living illegally in Saudi Arabia, who were given amnesty to return to the country.


NAN reports that the 198 persons including women and children returned with their luggage on board a Med-View aircraft.

Officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in Kano received the first batch of the returnees.

Mohammed Yahaya-Sani, the Consular at the Nigerian Consulate in Jedda, Saudi Arabia, who led the illegal immigrants to Nigeria, told newsmen at the airport that the Federal Government sponsored their return.


According to him, the illegal migrants voluntarily reported to the Nigerian Embassy to be returned to Nigeria in compliance with the three months evacuation notice issued to them by Saudi authorities, which will expire on July 24.

Yahaya-Sani said that contrary to speculations, the returnees were not deported rather they voluntarily accepted the amnesty offer granted them by the Saudi authorities for illegal immigrants to leave the country.

“They decided on their own to return to Nigeria. The Saudi authorities offered amnesty to all illegal immigrants to leave the country within three months,” he said.

The official handed over the returnees to NEMA officials at the airport who witnessed and documented their returns before they later departed to their various towns and villages.

NAN

SAUDI KING APPOINTS HIS SON AS CROWN PRINCE

Saudi Arabia’s king has appointed his son Mohammed bin Salman as crown prince – replacing his nephew, Mohammed bin Nayef, as first in line to the throne.

The young prince was little known to Saudis and outsiders before Salman became king in January 2015. He had previously been in charge of his father’s royal court when Salman was the crown prince.

The Saudi monarch quickly awarded his son expansive powers and named him deputy crown prince two years ago to the surprise of many within the royal family who are more senior and more experienced than Mohammed bin Salman, also known by his initials MBS.

The appointment of such a young royal as the immediate heir to the throne essentially sets Saudi policy for decades and removes the challenge of uncertainty. Saudi Arabia’s stock market was up by more than 3.5 percent in mid-day trading.

“He could be there for 50 years,” said Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a research fellow at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. “If you look at it positively, it is basically setting Saudi Arabia’s course into the 21st century.”

King Salman’s decree also means Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 31, will become deputy prime minister while continuing as defence minister, BBC said.

Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, 57, has been removed from his role as head of domestic security, state media say.He has pledged allegiance to the new crown prince, news agency SPA reports.

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