From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the evacuation of Nigerian students stranded in Dominican Island occasioned by the reported Hurricane Maria that thrashed the Island.
Nigerian students attend medical schools in Dominican Islands which prepare them to move to the United States and Europe for the completion of their medical degree programmes.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, confirmed the Presidential order, saying that the president was touched with the conditions of the students.
He said the directive was handed down to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which had swung into action. Shehu said the ministry had sent a senior official to the Island travelled for the purpose of issuing the students with temporary travel certificates.
Already the affected students have been evacuated to safety.
Shehu said, “The President was deeply touched when he learnt that some of them escaped with nothing but the shirts on their backs.”
According to him, the students will be moved to Brazil, where they don’t need visas for their onward evacuation to Nigeria. At least 10 people were reported killed as Hurricane Maria, ranked a Category 4 storm, raged through the Caribbean including parts of the Dominican Republic with heavy rain and high winds as it passed off its east coast on Thursday.