…AS BUHARI APPROVES, RELEASES
8.5m USD FOR EVACUATION
The Federal Government has concluded arrangement to evacuate not less than 5000 Nigerians stranded in Ukraine and other Easter European countries.
President Muhammadu Buhari has also approved and released the sum of $8.5 million to facilitate the evacuation of Nigerians who fled the troubled Ukraine to neighboring countries as a result of the Russian War.
Nigerians who have made it from Ukraine to Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia are to evacuated immediately to safety back home.
The Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Zubairu Dada, told journalists during a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday that the Presidential approval followed a joint memo by his ministry and Humanitarian Affairs , Disaster Management and Social Development at the Federal Executive Council.
The meeting was presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as the President is out of the country for a United Nation Environmental Programme at 50 special session in Nairobi, Kenya.
Dada who had a joint briefing with his Humanitarian Affairs Counterpart, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouk, said the Federal Government has contacted
Air Peace and Max Air airlines to carry out prompt evacuation of Nigerians in Eastern Europe.
He added that Government would only evacuate those who have registered for evacuation comprising 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. 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 any number of shifts that it will involved.
“Don’t forget it will also involve taking care of those Nigerians that may decide not to come back. It also include 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.”
Dada explained that the funds was released immediately and “That is why the evacuation flights will begin today ”
Dada who also spoke on fears over Nigerians living in cities which have fallen to the Russian invaders, said that it was the expectation of the FG that the Russians will strictly observe the rules of engagement as they affect unarmed civilians.
“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 missions in Ukraine has had to be evacuated. So if for any reason any Nigerian is left behind, we are very very prayerful, 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.
“We have seen video clips making the rounds about the alleged treatment that had been meted out to black people who were on queues and in buses and all that. All these we have brought to the attention of the ambassadors and we have expressed our displeasure at this development and demanded that they do something about this.” He added.