Russia Attack: Reps Demand Immediate Evacuation Of Nigerians In Ukraine

Russia Attack: Reps Demand Immediate Evacuation Of Nigerians In Ukraine

The House of Representatives on Thursday called for the immediate repatriation of Nigerians in Ukraine, offering to shoulder the responsibility.

The lawmakers said this was necessary as a result of the ongoing rift between Russia and Ukraine, Naija News reports.

According to the lawmakers, there are a significant number of Nigerian undergraduate and graduate students currently studying in Ukraine of which most are under government scholarships, hence the need to battle for their safety.

At the plenary on Thursday, the lawmakers said it is necessary to liaise with the ministry of foreign affairs on the ongoing issue, considering a number of Nigerian diplomats and their families in the Kyiv embassy and Nigerian expatriates across Ukraine.

Naija News understands that the lower chamber of the National Assembly today, mandated the leader of the House, Alhassan Ado Doguwa (APC, Kano), the Chairman, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Buba Yakub (APC, Adamawa) to take immediate action to secure life of Nigerian citizens.

This followed the adoption of a motion moved by Ahmed Munir (APC, Kaduna) at the plenary on Thursday.

Presenting the motion, the lawmaker said, there is a need for Nigeria to evacuate its citizens from the country.

According to Munir, the lives of Nigerians are at risk as the ongoing rift between Russia and Ukraine might escalate in the coming days, thereby putting Nigerians there in a more precarious situation.

He said: “We have a significant number of undergraduate and graduate students currently studying in Ukraine of which a portion are under government scholarships.

“This is in addition to a number of Nigerian diplomats and their families in the Kiev embassy and Nigerian expatriates across Ukraine.

“If a strategic plan is not put in place to secure and provide safe passage for our citizens, they may be trapped or worse, harmed”.

In his response, the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, directed that the House Leader and the Chairman, House Committee on Foreign Affairs to be ready for a possible trip to the warring country.

Gbajabiamila assured that the House will make necessary arrangements with Air Peace for possible evacuation of citizens, particularly students from Ukraine.

The House, therefore, mandated its Committees on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ascertain the exact figures of Nigerians affected by the conflict and fashion out ways of bringing them out of the situation.

The call for evacuation of the citizens is coming minutes after, the Ukrainian government confirmed that at least 40 people have been killed after the Russian army invaded the country.

Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has since offered to supply weapons to citizens who are ready to salvage the country from Russia.

Special adviser to the president, Oleksii Arestovich, disclosed this on Thursday while reacting to a recent bomb explosion in the country, Naija News reports.

Arestovich told newsmen on Thursday many people have been wounded in the recent attack. He noted that the president had said Ukraine was ready to hand weapons to all those willing to defend the country.This article was originally published on Nigeria News

<

p class=”wpematico_credit”>Powered by WPeMatico

Share

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Scroll to Top