The House of Representatives on Thursday resolved to rescue Miss Faridah Abdulsamiu, a Nigerian in detention in Libya, and others imprisoned in the country.

At the plenary, the House directed the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, to “set in motion the necessary steps to identify and trace all Nigerians, including Miss Faridah Abdulsamiu, detained or held in captivity in various detention centres in Libya, with a view to securing their immediate release from detention.”

The House also directed all government agencies, including the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, to collaborate with other governmental and non-governmental agencies, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, to trace and secure the immediate release of all Nigeria detainees in Libya.

Also, the House mandated the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Committee on Diaspora to ensure compliance with the resolutions and report back to the House within two weeks.

A member, Mr Abdulganiyu Olododo-Cook, had moved a motion at the plenary on Thursday, during which he decried that thousands of Nigerians including Abdulsamiu, a member of his constituency, are “held captives, detained and languishing in different detention camps across the cities of Libya.”

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He said Abdulsamiu and some other Nigerian detainees were being detained in Kuliyatul Juwiya, Misurata, Libya, since 2016 but they were later moved to Tripoli early this year.

The lawmaker added that Abdulsamiu and some other Nigerian detainees in Libya are kept under “extremely inhumane conditions thereby exposing them to various degrees of hazard, which sometimes led to death or permanent body injury.”

He said, “The House is worried that these Nigerian detainees, including Miss Faridah Abdulsamiu, in Libya, feel dejected and abandoned by their Nigerian government as their crying for help seems not to have been heard by the Nigerian government.

“Notwithstanding the efforts of the Federal Government through its various agencies to release the Nigerian detainees in Libya, there are still thousands of Nigerians, including Miss Faridah Abdulsamiu, stranded in various detention camps in Libya.

“The House is informed that unless systemic and drastic steps are taken to identify and trace all Nigerians detainees in Libya, with a view to securing their release, these Nigerians, including Miss Faridah Abdulsamiu, may be held in captivity forever in Libya.”