The Federal Government yesterday declared that the evacuation of about 4000 Nigerians from 76 countries across the world will begin on Wednesday, May 6, 2020 (today). The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffery Onyeama, who disclosed this at the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 briefing, said the exercise would begin with the evacuation of 265 Nigerians currently stranded at the United Arab Emirates (UAE); who would arrive the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos later today.
He said the evacuation would be done with an Emirates Airline flight, adding that the flight was ready at a time, but the country was not ready to receive the evacuees. Onyeama spoke on steps to repatriate nationals from near and far, saying his team was doing everything possible in spite capacity challenges to accommodate the returnees in Nigeria.
He added on Friday, May 8, 2020, a British Airways flight would arrive the country to evacuate its citizens and that government would use the opportunity to return no fewer than 300 Nigerians. Onyeama explained that due to preparation of isolation facilities in Abuja, the Federal Government would have loved the BA aircraft to fly into Abuja from the United Kingdom.
The federal government also disclosed that 265 Nigerians would be evacuated from Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday. The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Ferdinand Nwonye, who disclosed this in a statement issued yesterday, added that the evacuees would undergo a mandatory 14-day supervised quarantine in a monitored environment.
He also revealed that discussions were also ongoing with British Airways, through the British High Commission, to evacuate about 300 Nigerians from London on Friday, May 8, 2020. Nwonye noted that the flight, BA 9155 would depart London Heathrow Airport, Terminal 5, at 07.10am and arrive Lagos at 1.10pm. He said further that arrangements are equally ongoing with Ethiopian airlines to bring evacuees back to Abuja from New York on Monday, May 11, 2020.
