UPDATED: COVID-19: FG receives 292 evacuees from Saudi Arabia

Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

The Federal Government on Tuesday received another 292 stranded Nigerians from Saudi Arabia.

The evacuees with a large number who are nursing mother and children were transported to Abuja.

They were flown in with Saudi Arabia airline on Tuesday evening around 4pm. There flight was said to have taken off at about 10 am.

The Nation gathered that the Saudi Arabia was responsible for the arrangement of the evacuation.

It was yet to be ascertained the role played by the Federal Government in the evacuation or for how long the arrangement took.

But, the Nation gathered that the government of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia picked the cost of most of the returnees, which comprises of those who went to the Holy land for pilgrimage, some under graduates and post graduate students and those who went for conference.

The Nation also gathered that the government had commenced talks with the Ethiopian airline before this gesture from the Saudi government.

Besides, it was not clear if the Saudi government picked the bills of all the 292 passengers.

There are over 4,000 stranded Nigerians across various countries in the world following the global lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic who have indicated interest that they want to return to the country.

Already, the country has successful evacuated Nigerians from United Arab Emirate (265), United Kingdom (253) and the United States (160).

The latest returnees therefore brings to 970 the total number of stranded Nigerians who have been evacuated.

According to the verified twitter handle of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama the returnees are doing well and have all settled down in hotels for the mandatory 1r days quarantine.

“We received 292 evacuees stranded in Saudi Arabia yesterday. The Saudi Government transported them to Abuja. A large number are nursing mothers and children and they are all comfortably settled in hotels under the mandatory 14 days quarantine.”

The minister had on Tuesday said evacuation of stranded Nigerians abroad are subject to availability of accommodation for isolation and also medical personnel that will do the monitoring during the compulsory 14 days quarantine.