President Muhammadu Buhari has approved $8.5m dollars to the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Humanitarian, Disaster Management, and Social Development, for the evacuation of over 5,000 (registered and unregistered) Nigerians stranded in Ukraine.
The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Zubairu Dada stated this to statehouse correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting today March 2.
According to him, two flights from Air Peace and one from Max Air are expected to carry out the evacuation exercise starting Wednesday.
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Mr Dada said all agencies are fully resourced to ensure that aircraft leave on Wednesday to begin the evacuation. They noted that the flights will embark on a number of shifts until the process is complete.
Meanwhile, Air Peace, Max Air has confirmed that they would depart the country on Wednesday night for the evacuation of Nigerians stranded abroad as a result of the war in Ukraine.
Both airlines were contracted by the Federal Government to carry out the evacuation and both operators would deploy their wide-bodied aircraft for the exercise.
Max Air would evacuate 560 Nigerians on Wednesday from Romania while Air Peace would convey 360 from Poland and Hungary.
The Chief Operating Officer of Air Peace, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Olajide confirmed the readiness of Air Peace to carry out the evacuation.
The airline is expected to deploy its Boeing 777-300.
“Air Peace will leave this night to Bucharest and Warsaw to airlift Nigerians back to the country. They will land in Lagos. They are expected to arrive on Thursday,” Olajide said.
Max Air confirmed that it would depart Nigeria by 11 P.M on Wednesday with its Boeing 747-400 aircraft with capacity to airlift 560 passengers.
“We have our two Boeing 747 ready and serviceable to carry out the evacuation,” an official of the airline said
