It is an investigation that will probably reveal who wants to return home and who prefers to stay in this territory, the two agencies explained in a press release, adding that the results will provide recommendations to the current administration.

The head of the executive office, Lionel Hurst, assured that the final report will be made public, as a result of an invitation to these international organizations by Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne.

The country’s top authorities revealed last February that 637 of more than 900 people who landed from Nigeria between November and January remained in Antigua and Barbuda.

In late December 2022, charters organized by Abuja-based FastFlyLinks Travel & Tours brought Africans, including those from Cameroon, for 5,000 dollars.

Some told media outlets that they were escaping a harrowing situation in an region where civil war has raged for the past six years.

Antigua Airways, a partnership between the Antiguan Government and Nigerian investor Marvellous Mike, organized charter flights, while its efforts were imitated by another operator outside our knowledge, Information Minister Melford Walter Nicholas admitted earlier.

Air operators were using us as a springboard to South America and, therefore, we had to suspend routes from Africa, the official said.

The airline promoted by the local Executive has been under investigation by the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority since its announcement in July 2022 and only landed a first and only commercial flight in November that year.

jg/jav/lam/znc.