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Tag: Nigerian Evacuees

  • Sudanese ambassador, Yusuf appeals to Nigerian evacuees to return after the war

    Sudanese ambassador, Yusuf appeals to Nigerian evacuees to return after the war

    Muhammad Yusuf, the Sudanese ambassador to Nigeria, has appealed to Nigerian evacuees to return to the war-torn country after the crisis.

    The envoy made this known on Thursday after hundreds of citizens landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

    The first batch, about 376 evacuees, arrived via military jet C13. More are expected within the coming days.

    According to Yusuf, the evacuees should consider Sudan as their second country, saying that the situation in the country is already calming down.

    The ambassador also expressed optimism that the army will soon regain control of the whole territory.

    “I’m very happy to have these evacuees coming from Sudan safe, no life is lost. Nigerians are coming from their second country.

    “I hope that things will be controlled and safety will be back. You can come back and continue your studies, and businesses,” he said.

    Yusuf said although the government had proposed another truce, there would be no negotiations between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

    The acceptance of the truce, he explained, is for only humanitarian purposes to enable people to get food, shelter, water, and medicine.

    Recall that many Nigerians were already caught up in the crisis in Sudan before the Nigerian government started making effort to evacuate them back to Nigeria.

  • Canada shuns FG, denies Air Peace right to evacuate Nigerians

    The Canadian government has denied Nigerian carrier, Air Peace, the right to evacuate Nigerian citizens stranded in the North American country.

    This is coming weeks after the evacuation was stalled following the inability of Air Peace to secure landing rights from Canada.

    The Federal Government had penultimate week designated Air Peace to conduct evacuation flight to bring Nigerians who are stranded in Canada with the flight plan to airlift passengers from Toronto and Calgary back to the country.

    But sources disclosed that the Canada High Commission opened talks with another foreign airline, in a bid to deny Air Peace the opportunity to carry out the evacuation flight.

    Though, the Federal Government through the Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama had assured that the issue was being resolved, findings revealed that the moves to position a foreign airline for the flight at a higher fare was responsible for the delay.

    But despite the insistence of the Nigerian government that Air Peace must carry out the flight, the airline has finally been denied the rights in what analysts see as the outcome of high wire aero-politics.

    The Nigerian High Commission in Ottawa has confirmed that the Canadian government has refused Air Peace Limited the right to evacuate Nigerian citizens in the country.

    This is despite the fact that the over 300 affected passengers had already bought an Air Peace ticket.

    The High Commission confirmed this in a letter dated May 20, 2020 with reference number NHS/OTT/ADM.56/I emanating from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs titled: “Update on the Flight postponement”.

    The letter read: “The best and overall well-being of Nigerians stranded in Canada were the overriding considerations of the Nigerian High Commission in Ottawa seeking a solution to their predicament.

    “The aim was to come up with the most convenient and cost-effective arrangement possible bearing in mind that the many were stranded here through no fault of their own and some had become cash strapped.

    “The mission, therefore, engaged a number of airlines and eventually came up with an arrangement and pricing structure with Air Peace which no other airline was able to match.

    “You will recall that in our public notice of 12th May, 2020, the High Commission announced that the Canadian government had expressed reservations concerning the granting of necessary clearance/landing permit for Air Peace to fly into Canada, due to safety concerns.

    “Kindly be informed that after the protracted engagement, the Canadian government has unfortunately reverted with what appears to be a final refusal.

    “As a result, the Air Peace arrangement is cancelled. “During the negotiation with Air Peace, the issue of refunds was addressed in the event that the flight did not hold due to unforeseen circumstances and as such, everyone will get refunds for their tickets from Air peace as agreed.

    “In the meantime, the Nigerian High Commission is working assiduously to secure an alternative arrangement to get you home as soon as possible, safely and at the least cost possible.

    “Further updates will be communicated in due course.”

    It would be recalled that the Canada High Commission had directed that passengers should pay $2, 500 to another airline; while Air Peace charged $1, 134 and 319 passengers have already paid to the indigenous airline, which has concluded plans to operate full flight to the North American country.

    ‘We have done many international flights’ In response to the safety concern raised by Air Peace, the airline had disclosed that it had successfully flown to 40 countries, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom. An official who spoke in confidence said: “We have done many international flights, including landing in Canada.

    “We have made 19 flights to the United States of America since 2014. “We have flown to Tel-Aviv several times and in March we evacuated over 200 Israelis from Nigeria during this COVID-19 lockdown.”

    “We have scheduled flight operations to United Arab Emirates. “We have also flown to UK, Ireland, China, Turkey, Germany, Iceland, Switzerland and other countries. “We have IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certification and we are member of IATA.

    “We have also evacuated Nigerians from South Africa during the Xenophobia attack of Africans there. “We are grateful to the Federal Government and the Ministry of Aviation for all the support it is giving Air Peace and other ingenious carriers,”

  • NNPC, CBN agree to fund hotel, feeding expenses of Nigerian evacuees while in isolation – Onyeama

    NNPC, CBN agree to fund hotel, feeding expenses of Nigerian evacuees while in isolation – Onyeama

    The Federal Government has said it has secured funding for the hotel and feeding expenses of Nigerian evacuees while on compulsory 14-day isolation in Nigeria.

    This was revealed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama during the Presidential Task Force briefing on Monday.

    TheNewsGuru.com, (TNG) reports that the federal government had last week unveiled a new policy that requires Nigerians stranded abroad to offset their two-week quarantine bill as a prerequisite for possible evacuation.

    Before now, the returnees were only required to pay for their flight while the government took care of their two weeks stay in isolation.

    The government said it imposed the fees “due to measures that are beyond the control of COVID-19 local organizing team.”

    The new directive was revealed in a letter to the evacuees signed by the Head of Chancery, Nigerian Mission in Thailand, Nicholas Uhomoibhi, and dated May 14, 2020.

    However, the announcement did not go down with Nigerians who insisted that government must fund the hotel and feeding bills of the evacuees while in isolation.

    In what appears like a total submissiveness to the demand of Nigerians, the minister said he discussed with his colleague in Ministry of Environment, Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar who suggested that the ministry partner with Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) because they have corporate and social responsibility.

    Onyeama said the governor of CBN, Godwin Emefiele agreed to help but also sounded a note of concern that the amount that will be needed to cater for the Nigerian evacuees will be over a billion naira considering there are over 4,000 Nigerians that need to be evacuated.

    Emefiele according to the minister of foreign affairs said he was ready to share the cost with the NNPC to ensure something is done about the situation.

    The minister also noted the General Managing Director of NNPC, Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari, promised to partner with the CBN governor to fund the accommodation and feeding of the returnees.