President Muhammadu Buhari has approved $8.5 million for the evacuation of Nigerians currently trapped in the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Zubairu Dada, stated this to State House Correspondents yesterday after the weekly virtual Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Dada said the memo raised for the purpose was jointly raised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.
Also speaking on the approval, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouk, said the amount is to evacuate at least 5000 nationals stranded as a result of the crisis.
Dada explained that Air Peace and Max Air airlines have been contracted to provide three aircrafts and run as many shifts as possible to facilitate the evacuation.
He also said those to be evacuated include 940 from Romania, 150 from Slovakia and 350 from Poland, who have registered for evacuation.
“The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs wrote a memo to the president seeking for funding to enable us conduct this exercise. The memo was in the tune of $8.5 million, which Mr. President has graciously approved. That provision entails arrangement to evacuate not less than 5,000 Nigerians.
“Whatever happens, you can be rest assured we are going to run many 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,” he said.
Asked if the amount will be released immediately for the exercise, the minister said: “That is why the evacuation flights will begin today (Wednesday).”
On students trapped in Ukrainian cities now in the hands of Russians, Dada said: “We want to believe the Russian armed forces will obey the rules of engagement. They know the rules about civilians that are caught up in situations such as this. We want to assume they will respect international laws and ensure that no harm comes to them.
“Don’t forget that even our mission in Ukraine has had to be evacuated. So, if for any reason any Nigerian is left behind, we are very prayerful and we are very hopeful that no harm shall come to them once of course they are in some shelters or whatever place they are hiding.
“Don’t forget we had also summoned both the Russian and Ukrainian ambassadors to our ministry, and we did emphasis the need for their troops to ensure that they do not do anything that will harm the lives of innocent citizens.”
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Gabriel Aduda, ‘also in a statement in Abuja, confirmed that the Federal Government yesterday commenced the evacuation of stranded Nigerians.
Aduda stated that the stranded Nigerians would be evacuated from Romania, Poland and Hungary, via Max Air and Air Peace flights.
“Furtherance to our efforts to evacuate Nigerians from neighbouring countries surrounding Ukraine, we can confirm that chattered flights will depart on Wednesday, March 2, 2022, to pick up Nigerian evacuees home.
“So far, we have the following records of evacuees received by the Nigerian embassies at Hungary: 650 persons, Poland: 350 persons, Romania: 940 persons and Slovakia: 150 persons.
“The capacity and routes of the airlines are as follow: Max Air to Romania 560 persons, Air Peace to Poland 365 persons and Air Peace to Hungary 360 persons.
“The first batch of evacuees are expected to arrive Nigeria on Thursday, March 3, 2022.
“Once again, we assure Nigerians that we are working round the clock to see that our citizens are brought back home safely.