First batch of Nigerians arrives from Ukraine Thursday

The Nigerian government has communed airlift operations to evacuate Nigerians stranded in Ukraine back home. The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Gabriel Aduda, in a statement on Wednesday indicated that first batch of Nigerians evacuated from Ukraine will arrive Nigeria on Thursday.

The statement disclosed that chattered flights will begin picking up Nigerian evacuees back home from the neighbouring countries surrounding Ukraine on Wednesday.

According to the statement: “So far, we have the following records of evacuees received by Nigerian embassies at: Hungary (650 persons), Poland (350 persons), Romania (940 persons) and Slovakia (150 persons).

“The capacity and route of the airlines are as follows: Max Air to Romania 560 persons, Air Peace to Poland, 364 persons and Air Peace to Hungary 360 persons.”

President Muhammadu Buhari had on Wednesday approved the disbursement of $8.5 million to the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Humanitarian, Disaster Management, and Social Development, to evacuate over 5,000 (registered and unregistered) Nigerians stranded in Ukraine.