Nigeria finally agrees to begin airlifting its students out of Ukraine as from Wednesday

NIGERIA has finally put in place a plan to airlift its citizens stranded in Ukraine after the House of Representatives and foreign ministry officials agreed to start an evacuation on Wednesday following a meeting in Abuja today.

Ukraine is home to about 5,600 Nigerian students, most of them studying medicine because the cost of training is relatively cheap there. These students have been left stranded following the commencement of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine as many have fled for Ukraine's borders but are not being evacuated.

Amid calls for the Nigerian government to do something about their plight, the House Representatives today invited the foreign minister Godfrey Onyeama to come and explain the official policy on the matter. At a matting with Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, the speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Onyeama revealed that the first batch of Nigerians will be evacuated on Wednesday.

He added that this will give the ministry, the House and the Nigerian foreign missions in Ukraine, Poland and Russia enough time to complete the formalities of the operation. Thousands of Nigerians are in neighbouring countries like Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia, from where they will now be airlifted to Nigeria.

While commending the ministry for the steps taken so far to ensure the safety of Nigerians, the majority of who are students, Hon Gbajabiamila, stated that the country must find ways to quicken its response time to emergencies. He noted that response mechanisms, including funds, aeroplanes and other equipment, must readily be on standby to respond to life-threatening situations such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Hon Gbajabiamila said: “We must be in a state of readiness at all times. We should have our own planes and necessary funding to respond quickly to such emergencies.”

He stated that measures the National Assembly would take included passing legislation to address such emergencies and supplementary appropriations among others. Hon Gbajabiamila recalled how the House was left with no choice but to pass a resolution on Thursday last week, mandating its majority leader, Hon  Alhassan Ado-Doguwa and the chairman of its Committee on Foreign Affairs Hon Yusuf Buba, to work with the ministry of foreign affairs and proceed to Ukraine by the weekend to facilitate the air-lifting of students home.

According to the speaker, this was the last resort as members were bombarded with telephone calls by their constituents, coupled with the viral videos and pictures of Nigerians caught in the conflict. Hon Gbajabiamila said people were appealing to the Nigerian government to come to their aid urgently.

Mr Onyeama, reassured the lawmakers that things were under control in Ukraine, as the federal government had put necessary arrangements in place. He disclosed that over the last few days, the ministry in conjunction with the missions had completed formalities for Nigerians to move to safe border points from where they would be transported in buses to the airports in neighbouring countries.

He listed Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and even Russia, among the countries to be used as exit points. The minister, who said there were about 5,600 Nigerian students in Ukraine, added that there were also non-students, some of whom might not have been legally documented.