About 900 British travellers stranded in Nigeria are set to return home on three flights chartered by the UK Government.
Once the process is completed, these additional flights will bring the total number of people flown back to the UK from Nigeria on Government charter flights to around 2,000, following flights arranged last week from Lagos and Abuja to London.
Details of the new flights are as follows: Tuesday 28 April: Abuja – London, Friday 1 May: Lagos – London and Tuesday 5 May: Lagos – London.
The additional charter flights have been arranged for British travellers, and their dependents, whose primary residence is the UK. Priority is given to the most vulnerable travellers, for example people with health conditions.
In response, James Duddridge, minister of state for Africa, said “Our next phase of UK Government charter flights will mean another 900 British travellers are able to return home from Nigeria. We appreciate this has been a difficult time and will continue to work closely with the Nigerian authorities to support those wishing to return to the UK.”
Catriona Laing, British High Commissioner to Nigeria said: “I want to say a big thank you to everyone who has helped us put this together. First of all, to the Government of Nigeria, for their sterling support throughout the process; secondly to everyone at the airport, all the staff including the amazing British Airways team, and finally my own team who have worked tirelessly to make this possible and who continue to work hard to get British travellers back home to their loved ones”.
Source: businessday.
