Nigerians in Saudi Arabia change names to avoid deportation -Envoy

Nigerian Ambassador to
the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia, Mr. Abubakar
Bunu, has said many
Nigerian emigrants are
changing their names to
outsmart authorities and
avoid deportation.
Bunu, who disclosed this to
journalists in Gusau on
Saturday, said many of the
emigrants had gone into
hiding, thereby making it
difficult for law
enforcement agents to
trace them.
He explained that in spite
of joint efforts by the Saudi
authorities and officials of the Nigerian Embassy
there to locate them, only about 500 persons had
been repatriated in the last six months.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Bunu said
the embassy had discovered that some of the
emigrants, who had lived there for upwards of 25
years, had crossed through different routes
including Sudan and Yemen or as pilgrims on lesser
hajj and refused to return.
Bunu stated that although the figure of Nigerians
staying illegally in the kingdom was not known, the
Saudi authorities said it was over one million.
He therefore advised Nigerians who want to stay in
the Arabian country to regularise their documents
with the authorities to avoid unwarranted
embarrassment.
Some deportees, who were brought back to Gusau
recently and spoke to NAN on condition of
anonymity, however claimed hat 'only when one was
hit with hard luck that the person gets arrested and
deported.'
They maintained that many Nigerians still lived
normal lives in Mecca and Madinah by going to the
markets and praying at the Holy Mosques without
being harassed.
They said, 'We will still go back whenever we get the
chance.' We still have our family members and
personal belongings there.'
NAN reports that the ambassador was in the state to
attend the state's PDP elders and stakeholders
meeting organised by the party's caretaker
leadership in Gusau. NAN