Advertisement

Nigeria in plan to fly in 4,000 nationals based on immigration status

Saturday May 09 2020
airport

Health officials attend to flight passengers at the gate of entry at the Murtala International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria, on March 2, 2020. Nigeria has come up with a programme to fly home stranded citizens around the world. PHOTO | BENSON IBEABUCHI | AFP

By MOHAMMED MOMOH

Nigeria has come up with a programme to fly home stranded citizens around the world by scheduling flights to repatriate at least 4,000 nationals stuck abroad due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The country currently has over 3,500 Covid-19 cases and over 100 deaths.

The programme, whose cost will be met by the stranded nationals, means Nigerians from the UK and other European countries, the United States, China, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, India, Iran, South Korea, Japan, and Australia will be flown home.

At least 700 Nigerians will be flown from the US by Ethiopian Airlines. Officials said the chartered flight will fly from Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey on May 9, to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

The cost for the one-way economy ticket will be between $1,300 and $1,700.

Consular-General of Nigeria in New York, Benaoyagha Okoyen, confirmed that the mission had registered 700 citizens who will be evacuated in groups, starting with 270 passengers.

More than 301 Nigerians will be evacuated from the UK through a British Airways flight on May 8, from London according to spokesman of the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Abuja, Ferdinand Nwonye on May 5, who added that Nigerians in the United Arab Emirates would be flown home on Emirates Airlines.

Advertisement

Status

According to authorities, priority will be based on immigration status such as those stranded with proof of short-stay visas, the elderly, families with children and returning students.

At least 265 Nigerians will be evacuated from Dubai; 72 from Guangzhou city in China; and more than 670 from Europe.

According to the Foreign Affairs Minister Geoffrey Onyeama, the government has been having difficulty getting flights for the exercise, but Emirates, British Airways, Ethiopian Airlines and Nigerian Air Peace have offered their services.

All the passengers will have to first be tested for coronavirus before boarding the flights and they will also be subjected to the mandatory 14-day quarantine in Nigeria in addition to meeting the cost of the flights, according to Abike Dabiri-Erewa, chairman of the Nigeria in Diaspora Commission.

Another condition is that prospective evacuees are expected to pay for their quarantine and isolation accommodation before arrival in Nigeria. The commission said they had secured 300 beds in Lagos and 1,000 in Abuja.

Mr Onyeama reported that it had not been easy to secure spaces to accommodate the returnees for the quarantine.

While many Nigerians have welcomed the evacuation, others said they would prefer to remain put. “It is a little late because by the beginning of next month, we will be resuming our lectures,” said Adama Lazarus, a student in Lanzhou University, Gansu Province in China.

“Here in the UK, the government is paying 80 per cent of salaries for workers whose companies have not been operating and are unable to pay workers. It is better to stay here,” said Helen Osadolor.

Ayodeji Adetunji praised the government for the plan to fly them home. “The mood here is fast turning to frustration, helplessness and despondency,” he said.

Advertisement