PHOTOS: FG evacuates new batch of Nigerians stranded in Ukraine — 1199 so far

The federal government has evacuated a fresh batch of Nigerians stranded in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion of the country.

According to the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), the fifth set of evacuees landed in Abuja at about 1:20am on Friday.

“The 2nd flight of Evacuation comprising 122 persons plus an infant from Warsaw, Poland arrive the Nnamdi Azikiwe Int’l Airport today Friday, 11th March, 2022 at about 1:20am aboard Air Peace,” NIDCOM said in a tweet.

So far, 1,199 Nigerians have been evacuated from Ukraine since the efforts to help Nigerians flee the war-torn country started.

“Returnees are also getting free SIM cards loaded with 5,000 Naira airtime to allow them to reach their family members courtesy of a partnership between NiDCOM and Mtn,” NIDCOM added.

The returnees are also expected to receive $100 each as transport fee from the federal government.

Apart from the latest batch, 415 Nigerians had earlier flown in from Romania, 181 evacuated from Poland and 480 brought back home via Hungary.

As part of efforts to get Nigerians out of Ukraine, the federal government had approved $8.5 million for their evacuation.

The evacuation process started on Wednesday, March 2, and four batches of Nigerians had earlier arrived in the country.