The federal government has appointed Med-View Airline to help in the evacuation of 5,037 Nigerians still stranded in Libya.
The federal government has appointed Med-View Airline to help in the evacuation of 5,037 Nigerians still stranded in Libya.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) signed the papers of the agreement with the airline on behalf of the federal government in Abuja. The exercise it was gathered is scheduled to commence almost immediately.
Mr. Isiaq Na’Allah, Executive Director, Business Development and Commercial, Med-View Airline, assured that the airline was capable of ferrying the stranded Nigerians back to the country with ease.
It would be recalled that thousands of Nigerians had been repatriated back into the country from Libya when their attempt to cross to Europe through the war-torn country failed.
In the past one year, no fewer than 3,500 Nigerians had been returned to the country with many of them returning with sad tales and bad medical conditions.
Reports said several of them are being sold as slaves by the rebels in Libya while others are used as sex toys by the group.
The maltreatment of the country’s citizens prompted the government to partner with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to return some of the stranded Nigerians.
On Thursday, no fewer than 257 among the stranded Nigerians were repatriated through Afriqiyah Airlines. They landed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.
Na’Allah said: “This kind of responsibility is meant for Nigerian carriers because it’s our responsibility and we have the capacity to carry out this operation. We have demonstrated the capacity that we can do it and we are honored to have been appointed by the Federal Government through NEMA."
“It is a known fact that Med-View Airline has been in operations for the past 10 years. We do Hajj operations and we do it successfully and the record is there for everybody to see, that is a factor I think the government considered before we are assigned this national project. We will deliver professionally up to international standard and the government is not making any mistake for entrusting Nigerian carrier to this kind of project.”
NEMA’s Director-General, Engr. Mustapha Maihaja; Fatima Bukar, a Senior Legal Officer to NEMA; Na’Allah and Med-View Corporate Affairs Officer, Johnson Omole, participated in the signing of the agreement.
President Muhammadu Buhari had constituted a 17-man fact-finding committee to aid the evacuation process of 5,037 Nigerians in Libya. The 17-man team is headed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama.
