The United Arab Emirates authorities paid for the flight tickets and coronavirus testing for some Nigerians evacuated from the country on Wednesday, the head of the Nigeria in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has said .
Dabiri-Erewa, who shared the news in a Twitter post, said among the 246 Nigerians who evacuated from the UAE on Wednesday, 131 arrived on paid tickets by the UAE government who also sponsored their coronavirus testing before boarding.
“MORE NIGS RETURN.Another evacuation flight today arrived Lagos about 3.30 pm with a total of 246 on board Emirates. The UAE govt paid for tickets and cost of covid 19 tests for 131 of the evacuees.. A big thank you to the Nigerian Mission in Dubai and the UAE govt ,” she tweeted.
Meanwhile, the agency in a Twitter post too, said all the evacuees tested negative but would proceed to self-quarantine at home for 14 days in compliance with the directive of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.
Last month, Nigerian government said it would evacuate a minimum of 1000 Nigerians per week, in order to assist over 4,000 stranded Nigerians in various countries of the globe for four weeks.
Officials said the evacuation seeks to make use of the limited resources and ensure that Nigerians are safely returned home.
So far, Nigeria has already airlifted hundreds of its citizens from the UK, U.S., France, Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and others due to the COVID-19 pandemic which has caused over 500,000 deaths globally.
