Nigeria evacuated over 260 nationals from the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday amid the coronavirus pandemic, reported The Punch. The evacuation is being done as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic which has affected nearly 4 million people globally and led to the death of over 200,000 people.
The first batch of 265 Nigerians arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, via an Emirates Airline flight at about 8:30 p.m. local time (0730GMT) from Dubai.
Geoffrey Onyeama, the Foreign Affairs minister, confirmed the arrival of the returnees.
“The flight conveying 256 Nigerians evacuated from Dubai has landed Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos,” he said.
The people were scheduled to arrive at the airport at 3.00 p.m. but one of the passengers went into labor on flight and the plane had to make a U-turn to the United Arab Emirates.
“They are about 250. Their arrival was rescheduled from afternoon till evening because one of the passengers delivered a baby when the flight took off from Dubai. So the flight made a U-turn back to Dubai,” Abike Dabiri-Erewa, chairwoman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission told a local television station.
Abike said around 4,000 Nigerians from the UK, US and South Africa are waiting to be evacuated, adding that a second and third batch is scheduled to arrive this weekend and next week.
Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama said the evacuated Nigerians will be placed in quarantine in hotels in Lagos and Abuja for 14 days before they are allowed to leave. The quarantine is required to ensure the coronavirus-status of every returnee is ascertained. He ruled out COVID-19 medicine to be provided to the returnees.
“I’m sorry, we don’t have funds for palliatives for the returnees,” he said.
So far, Nigeria has reported around 3,000 positive coronavirus cases with 98 deaths, according to the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
