Abuja  - At least 163 Nigerians deported from Libya arrived in Lagos on a flight Wednesday.

The deportees included a 20-year-old girl, Amma, who was clutching a four-month-old baby. She said she was arrested when her baby was two-months-old and taken to a deportation camp in Libya.

"I was on my way to cross over to meet my husband who is already in Italy when I was arrested," she said, adding she would now try to be reunited with her husband's family members.

Another deportee, Angela, said she was arrested at her hairdressing shop and taken to the deportation camp. Her papers had not yet been regularised during her three-year stay in Libya and she said she has no plans to return there.

While some Nigerian girls are involved in prostitution in Libya, others work in legitimate businesses.

Others who refused to give their names called on the Nigerian government to create employment opportunities for young people in a bid to stop emigration. The deportees, mostly females, also included children and pregnant women.

Many Nigerian youths cross the Sahara desert in a bid to reach the European mainland, but are arrested in Libya or Morocco and detained.

Some are later deported after serving prison sentences. Oil-rich Nigeria is Africa's most-populous nation, but more than 80 per cent of its citizens live on less than 1 dollar a day.

A second batch of 151 deportees was expected in Nigeria from Libya Thursday. (dpa)