The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, NIDCOM has cautioned Nigerians travelling to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia without proper documentation as Saudi authorities have heightened a clamp down on irregular migrants.
A statement by NiDCOM says it attention has been drawn to a communication from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation on Saudi Arabian authorities intensifying crackdown on undocumented foreigners in their Country.
The Letter stated that Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has between October and December, 2022, intensified joint operations across the Country targeted at riding the Kingdom of undocumented irregular migrants.
In the Communication to the Federal Government, the Saudi Arabian government noted that about Forty Five Thousand, Four Hundred and Fifty Eight (45,458) foreigners are in the country with offences ranging from violation of residency rules, illegal border crossing attempts and irregular migrants for labour-related offences.
It states that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has about Eight Hundred (800) Nigerians arrested and detained for various offences particularly Consular issues since the clamp down began in October, 2022.
NiDCOM says though the Nigerian Embassy in Saudi is intervening in this matter, it urges Nigerians to resist breaking the laws of other countries.
The Commission however appealed to Nigerian citizens that if they must travel, they should travel with proper documentation.