Nigerian returnees from Dubai land in Lagos

The first batch of Nigerians evacuated from the United Arab Emirates have landed in Lagos.

The returnees, who landed on Wednesday evening, landed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, a few hours later than scheduled.

They were earlier scheduled to return at 3pm, but had to return to Dubai after a woman, who gave birth on the aircraft developed complications.

Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs, confirmed the development via his Twitter handle.

“The Flight conveying 256 Nigerians evacuated from Dubai has landed Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos,” he wrote.

The Flight conveying 256 Nigerians evacuated from Dubai has landed Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. https://t.co/oTawdZ3Ft2

— Geoffrey Onyeama (@GeoffreyOnyeama) May 6, 2020

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The federal government had said all those for evacuation must test negative for COVID-19 before being allowed into the country, and will also be quarantined for 14 days on return to Nigeria.

In April, Onyeama expressed concerns about the limited number of facilities to quarantine the returnees, and said they would be brought back in batches.

“Most of the hotels do not want to get into a situation of being used as quarantine centres, notwithstanding the fact that they are all empty; but they, for some reason, seem to prefer to remain empty than to be places of quarantine,” the minister had said.

He, however, said some facilities have been secured for the evacuees, while more efforts would be made to get more isolation centres in Lagos and Abuja.