House Seeks Immediate Evacuation of Nigerians in Ukraine, as Russia Launches Attack

• Gbajabiamila mandates leader, committee chair to ensure evacuation of Nigerian students by Monday

Udora Orizu in Abuja

As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine worsens, the House of Representatives has directed its leader, Hon. Ado Doguwa, and Chairman Committee on Foreign Affairs, Hon. Yakub Buba, to liaise with the Foreign Affairs Ministry, National Intelligence Agency and Ukrainian embassy to see that Nigerian students in Ukraine are immediately evacuated.

Russian troops had on Thursday launched attack on Ukraine, with explosions heard before dawn in the capital Kyiv and other cities.

Moving a motion of urgent national importance at the plenary on Thursday, Hon. Ahmed Munir lamented that the worsening conflict between Russia and Ukraine is deteriorating by the hour.

He pointed out that Nigeria has a significant number of undergraduate and graduate students currently studying in Ukraine of which a portion are under government scholarships.

This, he said, includes a number of Nigerian diplomats and their families in the Kiev embassy and Nigerian expatriates across Ukraine.

He worries that if a strategic plan is not put in place to secure and provide safe passage for our citizens, they may be trapped or worse, harmed.

The lawmaker therefore urged his colleagues to mandate its Committees on Foreign Affairs and diaspora in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of foreign Affairs to ascertain the exact figures of Nigerians affected by this conflict and put in place a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation mechanism.

Contributing, the Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, amended the prayer calling for an interface with the ministry, NIA and embassy for immediate evacuation of Nigerians in Ukraine.

He said since a state of emergency has been declared on the conflict, urgent action needs to be taken to ensure safety of the citizens.

The Speaker told the lawmakers that if nothing positive comes out of their meeting with the stakeholders today, then they should immediately contact the Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, regardless of the cost and head to Ukraine tomorrow (Friday) and evacuate the students (Monday).

Gbajabiamila said, “This is a very important motion that we discussed. Time is of the essence. A state of emergency has been declared, I listened to the news yesterday , even America said it’s not going to be bloodless. We should be more proactive and I think it’s better late than never. It’s important that at this point to forget all the bureaucratic bottlenecks, and look out for our citizens, especially students.

“Action needs to be taken now and my thought is that leader of the House Hon. Ado Doguwa and Chairman Foreign Affairs, Hon. Buba Yakub should liaise with the ministry of foreign affairs, NIA and embassy in Ukraine and if nothing positive comes out of it, then we should liaise with chairman air peace. Whatever it’s going to cost the House, you need to leave this country latest tomorrow and come back on Monday with many of our students.”