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From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The Federal Government, is putting finishing touches to its plans to evacuate Nigerians stranded in the Gulf Arab States, particularly in Iran, via Armenia, Saturday Sun has learnt.
The Gulf Arab States namely Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, have been cut in the web of controversy between the United States/the State of Israel and Iran.
The conflict which has entered the seventh day, witnessed the killing of Iranian Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In response to the attacks, Iran has struck United States bases in Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, and have also attacked the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
A diplomatic source who spoke with Saturday Sun, said the government’s plan to have Nigerians stranded in the countries evacuated to Nigeria has reached its climax.
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“They had a meeting today. A lot is being done to evacuate Nigerians from those countries, especially Iran,” the Saturday Sun source said.
Confirming the development, the Spokesperson, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa, said an inter-ministerial meeting held yesterday regarding the evacuation of Nigerians.
Ebienfa said: “We held an inter-ministerial meeting today, so we are working out modalities on how best to evacuate Nigerians from Iran.
“Iran is the most vulnerable for now because the devastation is more in Iran and we have an estimated population of 1,000 Nigerians in Iran and over 600 of them are students. These students are sponsored on scholarships by different state governments.
“Presently, the Embassy of Nigeria in Tehran is making efforts to move them to the border with Armenia so that we can secure them to Armenia and work out modalities on how to operate, either a special flight from the Nigerian military or we charter a flight from Armenia to bring them back home,” Ebienfa said.
Ebienfa further said even though Armenia is the primary focus of the inter-ministerial committee because it is the most vulnerable country, other countries in the region will also get the needed attention.
