Rescued Nigerian students from the beleaguered city of Sumy finally arrive in Abuja

ABOUT 300 of the Nigerian students who were recently rescued from the beleaguered Ukrainian city of Sumy have arrived in Abuja after a plane carrying them from the Hungarian capital Budapest landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport over the weekend.

There are about 5,600 Nigerian students in Ukraine, most of them studying medicine and over the last week, they have been flown back to Abuja via neighbouring countries like Poland, Romania, Hungary  and Slovakia. However, students trapped in Sumy were unable to benefit from the airlift as the town had been cut off with its roads and bridges blown up.

After over a week of negotiations, the two sides finally agreed to a ceasefire and the establishment of a safe corridor to allow those trapped in Sumy to leave. Ukraine's deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk, pointed out that around 5,000 Ukrainians and around 1,700 foreign students were taken to safety.

These 300 or so Nigerian students were originally vamped in Hungary but have now been flown back to Nigeria aboard an Azman Air flight. Their plane landed in Abuja on Saturday evening at around 8.50pm.

Nigeria's federal government approved a sum of $8.5m to fund the evacuation of the total 5,600 students stranded as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war. Upon arriving in Abuja, each returnee gets a stipend of $100 from the federal government.

Anthony Agada, one of the students, said: "The experience was very terrible, as many a time, we hear bomb blasts and gunshots and would then run to the underground shelter. There was even a time that we never had light for three days, we did not cook nor did we take our bath."

When ask if he will be willing to go back to Ukraine after the war, Mr Agada, said yes. Ambassador Bolaji Akinremi received the students on behalf of the federal government in Abuja.