Fed Govt to airlift citizens abroad from next week - Onyeama - Qubes Magazine

Airlifting of Nigerians stranded abroad will start next week, the Federal Government confirmed on Monday.

Foreign Affairs Minister Geoffrey Onyeama, who dropped the hint at the daily briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 Control in Abuja, said two airlines have agreed to bring back the citizens at affordable rates.

More than 2000 Nigerians, many of whom were stranded in different parts of the world following the lockdown triggered the coronavirus pandemic, have indicated interests to return home.

Speaking on the evacuation process, Onyeama said they would be brought back in batches of 200 and be made to stay in seclusion for 14 days in isolation centres prepared for returnees.

Onyeama said: “We have just signed and agreed with two airlines, we negotiated what we feel is very good rates. Since the evacuees are expected to pay, we wanted to get as good a deal as possible. Now, that’s done.

“The next challenge is accommodation; everything has to be absolutely ready. We are actually determined when we start that everything should go very smoothly and so, we really want to take all the necessary steps to ensure that would be the case.”

He also explained that the decision to have them return in batches was as a result of insufficient beds at the isolation centres.

According to a document obtained by The Nation, some highlights of the prospective returnees from 75 countries are as follows: United Kingdom (466); United Arab Emirate (253); China (229); U.S. (163); Turkey (160); Egypt (115); India (92); Malaysia (84) and Cyprus (72).

Others include Indonesia (35); Cameroon (20); Germany (10); Italy (eight); Australia (six); France (three); Jordan (13); Ghana (32); Ukraine (15); Saudi Arabia (35); South Africa (39); Sudan (18); Pakistan (14); Oman (five); Philippines (three); Poland (three) and Qatar (four), among others.

The minister, however, assured that adequate arrangements were being made for the evacuation and quarantine of the returnees. Thenationonlineng