By Bola Olajuwon, Assistant Editor
No fewer than 900 British travellers stranded in Nigeria are set to return home next week on three flights chartered by the United Kingdom (UK) Government, it was learnt on Friday.
Press & Public Affairs Officer, British Deputy High Commission, Lagos, Ndidiamaka Eze made this known in a statement.
Once completed, she said the additional flights would bring the total number of people flown back to the UK from Nigeria on Government charter flights to about 2,000.
Some stranded Britons were last week flown from Lagos and Abuja to London.
Details of the new flights, according to the British Deputy High Commission, are as follows: Tuesday, April 28: Abuja – London; Friday, May 1: Lagos – London and Tuesday, May 5: Lagos – London.
The statement explained the additional flights have been arranged for British travellers, and their dependents, whose primary residence is the UK.
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It added that priority would be given to the most vulnerable travellers, especially people with health conditions.
Nze quoted the UK Minister of State for Africa, James Duddridge, as saying: “Our next phase of UK Government charter flights will mean another 900 British travellers are able to return home from Nigeria.
“We appreciate this has been a difficult time and will continue to work closely with the Nigerian authorities to support those wishing to return to the UK.”
The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, also said: “I want to say a big thank you to everyone who has helped us put this together. First of all to the Government of Nigeria for their sterling support throughout the process, secondly to everyone at the airport, all the staff including the amazing British Airways team, and finally my own team who have worked tirelessly to make this possible and who continue to work hard to get British travellers back home to their loved ones.”
The statement urged British travellers to visit the Nigeria Travel Advice pages for further information.
The UK Government has been working with the airline industry and host governments across the world to help bring back British travellers to the UK as part of the plan announced by the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on March 30.
The British government had voted £75 million for the special charter flights to priority countries, with focus on helping the most vulnerable travellers.
So far, chartered flights have returned British travellers from India, the Philippines, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nepal, Ghana, Tunisia, Algeria and Peru.
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