Ukraine: 159 Nigerians cleared, some say they’re not returning to Nigeria

Chartered flight, AirPeace Airbus A230, which left Nigeria at about 2am this morning, arrived Warsaw, Poland at about 9am local time for the evacuation of stranded Nigerians.
Ukraine: 159 Nigerians cleared, some say they’re not returning to Nigeria

Chartered flight, AirPeace Airbus A230, which left Nigeria at about 2am this morning, arrived Warsaw, Poland at about 9am local time for the evacuation of stranded Nigerians.

The plane, which was initially billed to leave around 10pm last night experienced some delays due to documentation and flight clearance.

A total of 159 Nigerians boarded the 180 capacity Airbus before they had to disembark due to delays caused by a tendency to overshoot the acceptable work hours of the pilots.

This was disclosed by Ambassador Bolaji Akinremi, the leader of the evacuation team from the Ministry of foreign affairs.

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the sum of $8.5 million to facilitate the immediate evacuation of at least 5,000 Nigerians fleeing from the Russia-Ukraine war to Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia.

The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Nigeria, Zubairu Dada, who briefed newsmen alongside the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouk, said the approval came following a joint memo presented by both ministries 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 aircraft and run as many shifts as possible to facilitate the evacuation of the fleeing nationals.

Dada named those to be evacuated from the crisis area to include 940 from Romania, 150 from Slovakia and 350 from Poland who have registered for evacuation.

Speaking on the amount approved, Dada said: “The ministry of humanitarian affairs wrote a memo to the president seeking funding to enable us to conduct this exercise. The memo was to the tune of $8.5 million, which Mr. President has graciously approved. That provision entails an arrangement to evacuate no less than 5,000 Nigerians.

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