Senate President, Lawan appeals to Saudi govt over detained Nigerians

The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, has appealed to Saudi Arabian Government in assisting Nigeria to bring back more than ten thousand residents detained in detention in Saudi Arabia.

Lawan made the request on Wednesday when the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Nigeria, Faisal bin Ibrahim Al-Ghamdi, visited his office at the National Assembly, Abuja.

The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan

While emphasising the function of the Ninth Assembly in guaranteeing conformity to bilateral and multilateral agreements endorsed by the Nigerian government, he stated that continuous efforts were in progress to release citizens detained in Saudi Arabia.

He said, “This legislative arm of government is always conscious of ensuring that our government plays its role in bilateral and multilateral dispositions that our government has decided to go into.

“Saudi Arabia and Nigeria established a very solid relationship for a long time, and the relationship has been growing every year.

“I want to assure you that this arm of government will work with you as the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia.

“We are aware that some of our pilgrims in the past had issues in Saudi Arabia, thousands of them are in detention and, therefore, as a country, we have taken conscious decisions to ensure that we continue to educate and enlighten our citizens, especially those going to Saudi Arabia for Umrah or Hajj, that when they get there, they perform their religious rites and return to Nigeria.

“This is to minimize and possibly avoid people going there and not coming back. I want to assure you that we will continue to support the National Hajj Commission in educating our pilgrims and, of course, the State Welfare Boards across the country.

“Our country is also making a lot of efforts to ensure we evacuate our citizens who are now in Saudi Arabia and who we believe should be back home.

“I want to use this medium to seek the support of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the government to work with us in this respect to get our citizens back.

“Presently, we have over ten thousand Nigerians who are not registered and who are held in detention. It is our desire to ensure that we get these people out of the country and bring them back home.

“I want to assure you that the relationship between these two great countries, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, can only go higher and better.”