By our reporter| The House of Representatives on Thursday asked the federal government to immediately evacuate Nigerians in Ukraine, offering to shoulder the responsibility.
The lower house also mandated the leader of the House, Alhassan Ado Doguwa (APC, Kano), the Chairman, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Buba Yakub (APC, Adamawa) to liaise with the ministry of foreign affairs on the issue.
The decision followed the adoption of a motion moved by Ahmed Munir (APC, Kaduna) at the plenary on Thursday.
Munir had while presenting the motion, said, there is need for Nigeria to evacuate its citizens from the country as the lives of Nigerians are at risk and will be in a more precarious situation if the situation escalates.
“We have a significant number of undergraduate and graduate students currently studying in Ukraine of which a portion are under government scholarships, Munir said.
“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”.
The Speaker of the house, Femi Gbajabiamila, while responding, directed the House Leader and the Chairman, House Committee on Foreign Affairs to be ready for a possible trip to Ukraine.
According to the speaker, the House will make an arrangement with Air Peace for possible evacuation of Nigerians 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 home.
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