The federal government on Saturday received 198 Nigerians illegally residing in Saudi Arabia at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport.

The returnees are part of the 1,800 Nigerians living illegally in the Islamic nation, who were given amnesty to return to the country.

Officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in Kano received the first batch of the returnees at 10am.

Mohammed Yahaya-Sani, the consular at the Nigerian Consulate in Jedda, who led the immigrants to Nigeria, told newsmen that the government sponsored their return.

According to him, the illegal migrants voluntarily reported to the Nigerian Embassy to be returned to Nigeria in compliance with the three months evacuation notice issued to them by Saudi authorities, which will expire on 24 July.

Yahaya-Sani said that contrary to speculations, the returnees were not deported rather they voluntarily accepted the amnesty offer granted them by the Saudi authorities for illegal immigrants to leave the country.

”They decided on their own to return to Nigeria. The Saudi authorities offered amnesty to all illegal immigrants to leave the country within three months,” he said.