BREAKING: Buhari approves $8.5m to evacuate 5000 stranded Nigerians in Ukraine

Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, has approved $8.5 million for the immediate evacuation of 5,000 Nigerians stranded as a result of the Russian-Ukraine war.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Zubairu Dada, disclosed this on Wednesday at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.

Dada said Air Peace and Max Air have been contracted to provide three aircraft to facilitate the evacuation of Nigerians in the wake of the Russian invasion of the Eastern European country.

The minister said that three aircraft would be dispatched to four countries.

According to him, the countries where the pickup flights would be headed include – Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania.

Two flights from Air Peace and one from Max Air are expected to carry out the evacuation exercise.

The minister said those to be evacuated include: 940 from Romania, 150 from Slovakia and 350 from Poland.

“The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs wrote a memo to the president seeking funding to enable us to conduct this exercise,” Dada said.

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“The memo was in the tune of $8.5 million which Mr President has graciously approved. That provision entails arrangements to evacuate no 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.”

Mr Dada said all agencies are fully resourced to ensure that aircraft leave on Wednesday to begin the evacuation. They noted that the flights will embark on a number of shifts until the process is complete.

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