A nursing mother and 154 out of 230 Nigerian football fans stranded in Russia after the 2018 FIFA World Cup arrived the country on Friday night.
The stranded football fans, including a nursing mother in her mid-thirties came through the Ethiopian Airline flight number ET-ALP that arrived the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport Abuja at about 9.12 p.m on July 20.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, who was at the airport to monitor their arrival, lauded President Muhammadu Buhari’s effort to ensure their safe return.
He said that the President had directed that Nigerians, who were stranded in Russia after the 2018 World Cup tournament, should be evacuated immediately.
According to him, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs monitored the process of evacuation, which was under the coordination of the Mission of Nigeria in Moscow.
He said that 155 stranded Nigerians had been cleared to board an Ethiopian Airline flight to Abuja.
He recalled that some Nigerian football fans who were stranded had besieged the Embassy of Nigeria in Moscow on July 12.
‘’They were among the fans who travelled to the Russian Federation for the 2018 FIFA world cup tournament and were stranded after the events due to lack of funds for their upkeep.”
The minister explained that there was also an allegation that some airline travel agents cancelled return tickets of their customers without informing them.
He said the president gave a directive that they should be evacuated with immediate effect at the expense of the government.
Onyeama commended the good gesture of the president, saying those stranded were never part of government delegates to Russia.
According to him, the Nigerian Mission had been supportive by making arrangements for the feeding and accommodation of the stranded Nigerians in hostels around Moscow.
