Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, has said that the Federal Government is in the process of identifying airlines that will evacuate Nigerians abroad who have signified interest to return to the country.
Onyeama also said the government is spending a lot of resources to prepare isolation centres for the affected Nigerians since they will be isolated upon arrival in the country.
The minister further said almost a hundred Nigerians have been evacuated from Cote d’Ivoire and Togo so far.
“As I mentioned the other day, our evacuation has taken a little bit longer to get going. And when I say evacuation, I mean evacuation by plane because we have evacuated people from Cote d’Ivoire and from Togo, almost a hundred in total.
“But by plane, we have to put in place first of all, isolation centres because when they come into the country, they have to be isolated. So, we have been spending a lot of resources putting in place those centres.
“Addressing the challenges we have – the domestic challenges of all those who had come before and who we have to accommodate – I am putting all that in place.
“Now, the stage we are is identifying airlines that we will use to bring these people back. We are working with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) – for this is because that is the government agency responsible for emergencies and the director-general of NEMA has already asked the various airlines interested in this evacuation to make their bids and then, we will start rolling it out,” Onyeama said.
While saying that the numbers of the returnees were huge, Onyeama further said that the challenges associated with the evacuation were also huge.
He added that there were also all kinds of issues that needed to be addressed such as whether the returnees have been tested before or where they will be isolated when they arrive.
Onyeama who also maintained that the passengers will have to pay for the airlifting, however, said the government was making efforts to get the very best and lowest cost for seats.
“So, hopefully, very soon, we will start the process of airlifting,” Onyeama stated.