A nursing mother and 154 out of 230 Nigerian football fans stranded in Russia after the 2018 FIFA World Cup arrived the country on Friday night.
The stranded football fans including a nursing mother in her mid thirties came through Ethiopian Airline flight number ET-ALP that arrived Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport Abuja at about 9.12 p.m on July 20.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, who was at the airport to monitor their arrival, lauded President Muhammadu Buhari’s effort to ensure their safe return.
He said that that the President directed that Nigerians, who were stranded in Russia after the 2018 World Cup tournament, should be evacuated immediately.
According to him, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been monitoring the process of the evacuation, which is under the coordination of the Mission of Nigeria in Moscow.
He said that 155 stranded Nigerians were cleared to board an Ethiopian Airline flight to Abuja.
”The aircraft departed Domodedovo Airport in Moscow with the stranded Nigerians in the afternoon and arrived in Abuja this evening.
Onyeama said he had been working very closely with the Minister of State for Aviation following President Buhari’s directive on the exercise.
Some Nigerian football fans who were stranded had besieged the Embassy of Nigeria in Moscow on July 12.
”They were among the fans who travelled to the Russian Federation for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Tournament and were stranded after the events due to lack of funds for their upkeep.”
The minister explained that there was also an allegation that some airline travel agents cancelled return tickets of their customers without informing them.
He said President Buhari, however, gave the directive that they should be evacuated with immediate effect at the expense of the government.
Onyeama commended President Buhari for the good gesture, saying those stranded were never part of government delegates to Russia.
According to him, the Nigerian Mission had been supportive by making arrangements for the feeding and accommodation of the stranded Nigerians in hostels around Moscow.
One of the returnees, Bamidele Fatai praised President Buhari for making their journey possible.
He also thanked the Nigerian Mission in Moscow for giving them necessary support.
Another returnee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was swindled by an agent who cancelled his return ticket.
He said he was in Moscow to support the Nigerian Football Team and to catch fun only to discover that his ticket had been cancelled when he was ready to return home.
Government to initiate probe
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama says the Federal Government has resolved to investigate suspected human trafficking in the case of the 155 Nigerian football fans who got stranded in Russia after the World Cup tournament.
He revealed the plan to probe the incident at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja where he received the returnees.
The stranded Nigerians, who besieged the nation’s embassy in Moscow on July 12, were safely returned to the country following a directive by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Onyeama said after a discussion with the Director General of National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Ms Julie Okah–Donli, it was clear that there were possible cases of human trafficking among the returnees.
“I have spoken to the DG of NAPTIP and she had also indicated that they had sounded the alarm bells for these young children not to leave the country, that it had all the hallmarks of trafficking and irregular migration,” he said.
The minister insisted that some of them, among whom was a nursing mother, were quite too young to have travelled to Russia by themselves solely for the purpose of the World Cup tournament.
He added that an investigation would also be launched into an allegation that some travel agents cancelled the return tickets of the football fans without informing them, leaving them stranded in the European country.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu, had revealed the Presidential directive in a statement, following the activities of the travel agents who reportedly cancelled the return tickets of their clients and abandoned them to their fate.
President Buhari had ordered Onyeama and the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, to commence the process of repatriating the stranded Nigerians.
Shehu said the Presidential directive was in line with the policy of the Federal Government to ensure the welfare of all Nigerians in every part of the world.
(NAN)