No fewer than 427 Nigerians based in Ukraine arrived Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja on Friday Morning.

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They arrived en route Romania via Max Air.

This is according to an update by the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) on its Twitter handle.

The passengers, numbering over 400 from Romania, landed at the private jet terminal of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport by 7:10 am (WAT) via a Max Air flight on Friday. They are mostly students who fled Ukraine to Romania following Russia’s invasion of the Eastern European country.

They were reportedly received by government officials and are expected to undergo documentation after which they will head home and self-isolate in line with the COVID-19 protocols. The Federal Government said they will be given some money to enable them to get to their destinations.

Friday’s flight, which was billed to arrive a day earlier, was delayed as the Federal Government cited a hitch in preparing passengers for the check-in process.

Asides Romania, the pickup flights will evacuate Nigerians from Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary.

Officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had earlier said about 5, 000 Nigerians are eligible for evacuation from the warring region. The country will spend $8.5m on the exercise.

Other flights are expected to arrive in the country in the coming days as nations battle to evacuate their citizens.

Already, several African countries had moved their citizens, mainly students, from the conflict zone. Ghana, Zimbabwe, and South Africa were among the first set of nations to evacuate their citizens amid reports of racism by Ukrainian and Polish officials at the border posts.

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The federal government has approved $8.5m dollars to the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Humanitarian, Disaster Management, and Social Development, towards the evacuation of over 5,000 (registered and unregistered) Nigerians stranded in Ukraine.

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Zubairu Dada the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, made the disclosure on Wednesday, noting that three aircraft would be dispatched to four countries.

Dada noted that the pickup flights would be headed to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania. Two flights from Air Peace and one from Max Air are expected to carry out the evacuation exercise.

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

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The federal government said the first batch of air-lifting of Nigerian citizens trapped in the war-torn Ukraine is now scheduled to take place Wednesday March 2.

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Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of the House, stated this on Monday during a meeting with Geoffery Onyeama, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, in Abuja,
The evacuation, earlier planned for Monday, was rescheduled for Wednesday to give enough room for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the House of Representatives and the Nigerian foreign missions in Ukraine, Poland and Russia to complete the formalities of moving Nigerians from inside Ukraine to safe borders with neighboring countries.
The House of representative vowed to give every needed support to the ministry to kick-start the evacuation.

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