In an interview with Punch on Tuesday, the Director, Consular and Legal Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bolaji Akinremi, says the Nigeria can evacuate citizens of the African countries that are stranded in Ukraine.
He made it known that once they arrive in Nigeria, they will make way to their respective countries and all these will be free of charge.
He said “We are making provisions to evacuate citizens of Ghana, Togo and mainly West African Countries. It is open to all African countries. We have provisions for about 2000 of them as long as they can find their way from here.
Bolaji stated that the evacuation process will commence on Thursday as they cannot do it without the affirmation of the host country. Planes that will evacuate them will arrive in the early hours of Thursday.
Meanwhile, he added that 200 Nigerians has returned on their own with the help of Nigeria Government as they give out free ticket to them. “The aspect we are not focusing on is those that have already arrived in Nigeria. There are large number of people that have returned on their own. Over 200 people have arrived in the last one week and they were assisted by the government. Most of them had their ticket but we procured ticket for many of them”