Oyo State Government has distributed palliatives to the first set of Lebanese returnees in the state.

On the occasion, Special Adviser on Diaspora to the State Governor, Bolanle Sarumi-Aliyu said the exercise would be conducted in batches.

The returnees, who are Oyo State female indigenes in their middle ages, were stranded in Lebanon in the process of seeking greener pastures.

Speaking on the effort of Oyo State Government at ensuring the welfare of all its citizens, including those in the Diaspora, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Diaspora matters, Mrs Sarumi Aliyu noted that about forty-eight stranded Oyo indigenes had been repatriated in the last few months.

Mrs Sarumi-Aliyu, while explaining that the government had put mechanisms in place to empower the returnees, hinted that the palliative was to make life easier for the ladies pending the time when a concrete empowerment would be effected.

Mrs Sarumi-Aliyu also gave assurance that the state government was ready to penalize human traffickers.

She added that plan was underway to evacuate another set of fifty stranded Oyo indigenes from Lebanon.

Some of the returnees, who described their experience in the foreign land as harrowing, appreciated the Oyo State Governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde for prioritizing their needs.

Reacting, President, Journalists International Forum for Migration, JIFORM, Mr. Abayomi Ajibola commended Oyo State for the stride in ensuring better life for Nigerians in Diaspora, calling on other state governments to emulate the good gesture.

He described as unfortunate, a situation where stranded Nigerians in Diaspora were neglected by their state governments.

In recent time, both Federal and State governments had been evacuating stranded Nigerians across the globe.

Adedayo Adelowo