The House of Representatives has resolved to ensure the immediate evacuation of Nigerians, including students, from Ukraine.
The lower legislative chamber of the National Assembly at its plenary session on Thursday, drafted the Majority Leader if the House, Ado Doguwa, and the Chairman of the House Committee in Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Buba, to leave for Ukraine on Friday to secure the evacuation.
The resolution was passed following the adoption of a motion sponsored by Munir Agundi, a lawmaker from Kano State.
The Ukraine-Russia crisis has escalated in the past few hours, following the invasion of Ukraine by Russian military forces.
While moving the motion on the matter, the legislator said the worsening conflict is “deteriorating by the hour.”
He said there are a number of Nigerians in Ukraine, who may be impacted by the conflict, hence the need for immediate evacuation.
He said, “We have a significant number of undergraduate and graduate students, currently studying in Ukraine, of which a portion is under government scholarships.
“This is in addition to a number of Nigerian diplomats and their families in the Kyiv embassy and Nigerian expatriates across Ukraine. If a strategic plan is not put in place to secure and provide safe passage for our citizens, they may be trapped or worse, harmed.”
Contributing to the motion, the Speaker,Rt. Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, said that the situation requires urgent action.
He said, “This is a very important motion that we discussed; time is of the essence. A state of emergency has been declared, I listened to the news yesterday, even America said it’s not going to be bloodless.
“We should be more proactive and I think it’s better late than never. It’s important at this point to forget all the bureaucratic bottlenecks, and look out for our citizens, especially students.
“Action needs to be taken now and my thought is that the Leader of the House, Hon. Ado Doguwa, and the chairman of Foreign Affairs should liaise with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NIA and embassy in Ukraine and if nothing positive comes out of it, then we should liaise with the chairman Air Peace. Whatever it’s going to cost the House, you need to leave this country latest tomorrow and come back on Monday with many of our students.”
The motion was unanimously adopted when it was put to a voice vote by Speaker Gbajabiamila.
