Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
The federal government has evacuated 327 Nigerians stranded in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Egypt.
It said while 252 Nigerians were evacuated from Dubai, 75 were evacuated from Egypt.
The federal government said so far, it has evacuated 4,984 Nigerians from Dubai.
The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) in a statement issued yesterday said: “252 Stranded Nigerians in Dubai, United Arab Emirates arrived at Murtala Muhammed Int’l Airport, Lagos today Saturday 22nd August 2020 via Emirates Airline.
“The flight departed Dubai at 10:20am (7:20am Nigeria n time) and arrived Lagos at about 3pm. Out of this number, 180 of them had their tickets paid for by the UAE govt , for those who claimed they couldn’t afford a return ticket.
“In total, 18 flights have so far evacuated 4,984. Nigerians from Dubai. Out of which the UAE government paid for 517 Nigerians on three FlyDubai flights, and 380 Nigerians on Emirates Airline.”
The commission revealed that additional 174 Nigerians are to leave Dubai on 25th August aboard FlyDubai paid for by the UAE government.
It said this would bring the total number of Nigerians evacuated gratis by Dubai authorities to 1,071.
Similarly, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday revealed that the fifth evacuation special flight has left Cairo for Abuja at 10 am local time in Egypt.
The ministry in a statement yesterday said, “The total number of passengers are 110.
“75 Nigerians, mostly students from various universities in Egypt and nine students from Amman, Jordan, one Nigerian from Baghdad and six (6) Nigerians from Erbil in Iraq.
“Amb. Hameed Opeloyeru and his wife also joined the Special Flight coming from Astana, Kazakhstan through Dubai and to Cairo.”
