Ukraine war: 6th batch of 301 Nigerians arrives Abuja from Hungary
Another batch of 301 Nigerian evacuees fleeing the Ukraine war arrived the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), in Abuja from Budapest, in Hungary, Saturday.
They were received by a team of Federal agencies coordinated by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
Director General of NEMA, Mustapha Habib Ahmed who was represented by the Director of Search and Rescue Air Commodore Edward Adedokun, while welcoming the returnees back to the country explained that the Nigerian Government has made arrangement to support the returnees to their various locations.
Also speaking, the Director Consular Department Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs Amb Bolaji Akinremi said that the evacuation would continue in line with commitment by the Federal Government to bring home all Nigerians affected by the situation in Ukraine.
The latest arrivals follow the 123 from Poland last Friday morning.
That batch was the fifth of Nigerians fleeing Ukraine after the country’s invasion by Russia,.
The batch consisting of 122 persons and an infant touched down at the Abuja airport aboard an Air Peace aircraft.
The Air Peace Flight LYX8125 from Warsaw, the capital of Poland, arrived at exactly 1:17an Nigerian time.
The evacuees were received by Hon. Terab Abdulrahman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM, as well as officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other agencies and departments of government.
This will be the second evacuation from Poland of Nigerians who had made it out of Ukraine and have been taking refuge in the nearby Eastern European country.
Last week, an earlier first batch of 181 evacuees from Poland has arrived the country.
The Foreign Affairs ministry also confirmed that 1,199 have been evacuated so far from Ukraine.
On its part, NIDCOM informed that returnees are being given free SIM cards loaded with N5,000 airtime ‘to allow them reach their family members courtesy of a partnership between NiDCOM and MTN, and MTN Nigeria, in addition to the $100 transport fare from the Federal Government.
According to Mr Bashir Ahmad, the Personal Assistant on Digital and New Media to President Muhammadu Buhari, a total number of 1,076 Nigerians in Ukraine have been evacuated back home, excluding Friday’s arrivals.
‘So far, a total number of 1,076 Nigerians affected by the crisis in Ukraine, have been evacuated back home,’ Buhari’s aide said, Thursday.
The total includes; 415 evacuated from Romania, 181 from Poland, and 480 airlifted from Hungary in various batches.
The Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) in Abuja has served as arrival hub for the Max Air and Air Peace carriers involved in the evacuation.
