President Muhammadu Buhari says all Nigerians stranded in Libya and other parts of the world will be brought home and "rehabilitated."

His comments during a European Union-African Union summit come after recent footage showing a slave auction of African migrants in Libya caused widespread outrage.

Buhari says it is appalling that "some Nigerians were being sold like goats for few dollars in Libya."

The comments also come a few weeks after 26 Nigerian women died while attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.

Meanwhile, the federal government says it has already begun repatriating hundreds of migrants who had been stranded in Libya, with the help of international migration authorities.

The government said on Twitter that 242 Nigerian migrants returned home on Tuesday and that more than 4,000 who had been stranded in Libya have "safely retuned home" this year.

AP