We have also started bringing back home all Nigerians stranded in Libya and elsewhere. We will ensure they all return home safely and are rehabilitated.

— Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) November 29, 2017

Speaking in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire where he is attending the EU-Africa summit, Mr Buhari vowed to provide basic social amenities at home so as to reduce the number of Nigerians heading for Europe illegally.

He was reacting to the allegations of enslavement of Nigerians in Libya as well as the death of 26 Nigerian migrant women in Italy.

Commenting for the first time on the death of the 26 young Nigerian women, he said: “It is very difficult to know the origin of the people who died while attempting the perilous journey across the Mediterranean, because of lack of documentation.’’ The Africa Review reports

“When it was announced that 26 Nigerians died recently in the Mediterranean, before they proved that they were all Nigerians, they buried them.

“But the evidence I have from the Senior Special Assistant on Diaspora and Foreign Affairs, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa is that only three of them were identified as Nigerians. But I’ll not be surprised if the majority of them were Nigerians,’’ he said.

“The situation in Libya, of people being sold into slavery, is appalling and unacceptable. We will do everything to protect our citizens wherever they might be,” Buhari wrote on his Twitter account.

The situation in Libya, of people being sold into slavery, is appalling and unacceptable. We will do everything to protect our citizens wherever they might be.

— Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) November 29, 2017

Muhammadu Buhari’s comments came days after CNN aired footage that appeared to show men being auctioned as farm hands in Libya after being smuggled across the Sahara.