The Federal Government has evacuated another set of Nigerians stranded in some European countries and Pakistan, it was learnt.
The minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama announced the evacuation of the 271 Nigerians in a separate tweet.
The breakdown shows that 200 came in from United Arab Emirate, 56 of the evacuees came from Pakistan while the rest 15 are from five different European countries-Belgium, France, Germany, Holland and Estonia.
Three hundred Nigerians stranded in United Arab Emirate has been successfully evacuated.
This brings to 1,794 the number of Nigerians evacuated since the global lockdown occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The evacuees landed in Abuja on Friday, June 19 2020 via emirates.
The latest arrival was announced via a tweet by the Nigeria Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM).
The tweet stated, “300 Stranded Nigerians in UAE landed in Abuja, Nigeria today, Fri 19th June 2020 via emirates.
“All evacuees are to go on Compulsory 14 days SELF ISOLATION according to the new Protocol by the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19.”
On the evacuees from Pakistan and Europe, the minister tweeted, : “Air France flifht departed Paris to Lagos today (Thursday June 18, 2020) ans there were 15 Nigerians on board from France, Germany, Belgium, Holland and Estonia who had registered for the evacuation with the Nigerian Missions in these countries.”
In another tweet, he stated, “An aircraft conveying 56 of our narionals stranded in Pakistan and four Pakistani nationals departed Islamabad International Airport at about 16.05 hours (4.05pm) local time.
“It is expected to arrive Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja at 3.00am on Friday June 19, 2020.”
According to a source at the Nnamdi Azikwe airport, the evacuees from Pakistan arrived around 1.05am Friday morning via Tarco Air.
All evacuees, according to our sources are now on Compulsory 14 days self-isolation according to the new Protocol by the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19.
The latest arrival brings to 1,794 Nigerians that have been evacuated since the global lockdown occassioned by the Covid-19 pandemic. 1,523 Nigerians had been evacuated as at June 13, 2020. There were over 4,000 Nigerians stranded in various countries across the globe.
The Federal Government had set a maximum of four weeks to complete the evaciation of over four thousand Nigerians stranded in various countries.
The Presidential Taskforce (PTF) said it will evacuate 1000 weekly.
According to PTF Coordinator, Dr. Sani Aliyu, 500 hundred of the evacuees would be landing in Abuja and the other 500 will be landing in Lagos.
He said they will be coming in under the new evacuation protocol which demands for a pre-evacuation test.
Explaining further on the evacuation process, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama said “As the National Coordinator had mentioned earlier, that the mechanism that Dangote Foundation and others have put together to alleviate the need for evacuees to check into hotels for 14 days is now fully implemented and moving ahead well.
“So if we can organise everything well, in the next three to four weeks maximum, we really should be able to bring home all of our evacuees who want to come back home.”
Credit: The Nation