FG to evacuate Nigerians abroad with local airlines

The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 says the Federal Government would now be using four local airlines to evacuate Nigerians abroad back home.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, who said this on Monday in Abuja at the 29th joint national briefing of the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19, however, did not name the airlines.

The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) had recently condemned the decision by the federal government to patronise foreign airlines for the evacuation flights following the return of 265 Nigerians from Dubai aboard an Emirates aircraft.

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“I would like to thank all the Heads of our Missions in the UAE, UK and US. They have all worked very hard to deliver results.

“We are getting to the maximum capacity we can cope with, in terms of care, at this time. We will therefore be staggering our evacuation flights, and dealing with the evacuees in place first, before bringing others back,” Onyeama said.

According to him, there are still many Nigerians out there who want to return home from China, India, France, Canada, Lebanon, Egypt, Sudan and other countries.

He said: “Government is mindful of the need to use local carriers. Arrangements for airlines for first batch of flights were not done by government. Flights being arranged henceforth are all Nigerian carriers; we intend to use only Nigerian airlines henceforth.”

600 evacuees now in Abuja, Lagos isolation centres

The Minister aldo revealed that 600 Nigerians evacuated from Dubai, the United Kingdom and the United States of America are now in isolation centres in Lagos and Abuja.

The minister said the isolation centres had reached a saturation point and would not be able to take more.

“The  number we are able to care for are limited, this means we are going to be staggering flights before bringing others back to the country.

“Many Nigerians willing to come home are still in China, India, Sudan, Lebanon, Egypt among others; this calls to question our capacity to absorb all of them and also ensure we deliver optimally,” he said.