President Muhammadu Buhari has approved $8.5 million for the
immediate evacuation of 5,000 Nigerians stranded as a result of the
Russian-Ukraine war.
Zubairu Dada, minister of state for foreign affairs, said
the approval was issued on Wednesday at the federal executive council (FEC)
meeting presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.
Dada said Air Peace and Max Air have been contracted to
provide three aircraft to facilitate the evacuation of Nigerians in the wake of
the Russian invasion of the Eastern European country.
The minister said those to be evacuated include: 940 from
Romania, 150 from Slovakia and 350 from Poland.
“The ministry of
humanitarian affairs wrote a memo to the president seeking funding to enable us
to conduct this exercise,” Dada said.
“The memo was in the tune of $8.5 million which Mr.
President has graciously approved. That provision entails arrangements to
evacuate not less than 5,000 Nigerians.
“Whatever happens, you can be rest assured we are going to
run any number of shifts that it will involve. Don’t forget it will also
involve taking care of those Nigerians that may decide not to come back.
“It also includes
some assistance for the feeding that may have been done by the missions under
whatever arrangements. Even the missions themselves are also in dire
situations. So it’s a whole gambit of activities that are involved.”
The minister added that the evacuation flights will begin today (Wednesday).
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