Buhari Approves $8.5 Million To Evacuate Stranded Nigerians In Ukraine

President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday approved $8.5 million dollars to the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Humanitarian, Disaster Management, and Social Development, for the immediate evacuation of over 5,000 (registered and unregistered) Nigerians stranded in Ukraine.

These Nigerians who became stranded are now ready evacuation due to he ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

This was contained in a tweet post by Personal Assistant to the President on Digital and New Media, Bashir Ahmad, on his official Twitter account, this was made known by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Zubairu Dada, on Wednesday in Abuja.

The minister explained that the countries where the pickup flights would be headed include – Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania.

Two flights from Air Peace and one from Max Air are expected to carry out the evacuation exercise.

Dada noted that all agencies are fully resourced to ensure that aircraft leave on Wednesday to begin the evacuation. They noted that the flights will embark on a number of shifts until the process is complete.

The federal government had earlier announced its readiness to begin evacuation of about 2,000 Nigerians who have fled the war in Ukraine to neighbouring countries from Wednesday.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, made this known in an interview on a Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ programme.

Onyeama explained that President Muhammadu Buhari had approved funds for the airlines to evacuate Nigerians.