President Muhammadu Buhari has approved a total of $8.5million (about ₦3.5bn according to Wednesday’s official rate) to facilitate the evacuation of no fewer than 5,000 Nigerians stranded in Ukraine due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
The announcement was made by Minister of state for Foreign Affairs, Zubairu Dada, on Wednesday.
The minister who addressed the state house correspondents shortly after the Federal Executive Council (FEC), said the funds was approved to the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Humanitarian, Disaster Management, and Social Development, towards the evacuation of Nigerians that have been able to make it out of the Ukraine to neighbouring countries.
The minister said those to be evacuated include: 940 from Romania, 150 from Slovakia and 350 from Poland.
The minister also disclosed that three aircraft would be dispatched to four countries. He also added that the countries where the pickup flights would be headed include – Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania.
“The ministry of humanitarian affairs wrote a memo to the president seeking funding to enable us to conduct this exercise,” Dada said.
“The memo was in the tune of $8.5 million which Mr. President has graciously approved. That provision entails arrangements 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 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.”
Two flights from Air Peace and one from Max Air are expected to carry out the evacuation exercise from Wednesday as Nigerians continue to make their way out of the crisis-ridden Eastern European country.
