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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved $8.5 million for immediate evacuation of at least 5,000 Nigerians that fled the Russia-Ukrainian war to Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia.
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Zubairu Dada, who briefed alongside the Humanitarian Minister, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouk, said the approval came after a joint memo presented by both the ministries of foreign affairs and humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Dada disclosed that Air Peace and Max Air airlines have been contracted to provide three aircrafts and run as many shifts as possible to facilitate the evacuation. Those to be evacuated include 940 from Romania, 150 from Slovakia and 350 from Poland who have registered for evacuation.
On the amount approved, Dada explained further: “The ministry of humanitarian affairs wrote a memo to the president seeking for funding to enable us conduct
He said $8.5 million would cover cost of taking care of those Nigerians that may decide not to come back, some assistance for 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.”
On students trapped in Ukrainian cities now in the hands of Russians, Dada said: “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 emphasise the need for their troops to ensure 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.”
