FILE - In this Tuesday, April 7, 2020 file photo, U.S. citizens queue to check in and be repatriated aboard an evacuation flight arranged by the U.S. embassy and chartered with Delta Air Lines, at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria. African nations face a difficult choice as infections are rapidly rising: Welcome the international flights that originally brought COVID-19 to the ill-prepared continent, or further hurt their economies. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, File)
– 289 stranded Nigerians have arrived home from the US
– They were left stranded due to the COVID-19 pandemic
– They were conveyed by an Ethiopian Airlines plane
Since the outbreak of coronavirus, many citizens are stranded in different countries due to the lockdown measure put in place in order to curb the spread of the virus, the Federal Government of Nigeria has since then embarked on evacuating its stranded citizens across the globe.
Following this, another batch of 289 Nigerians stranded in the United States due to COVID-19-related border closure has returned home.
An Ethiopian Airlines plane conveying the evacuees took off from New Jersey on Tuesday night and is expected to land at Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja on Wednesday afternoon.
This is the fourth evacuation flight, which brings to 1,095, the total number of stranded Nigerians so far repatriated by the Federal Government from the US.
Two families of seven were dropped from this flight, according to the Consul General of Nigeria in New York, Benaoyagha Okoyen.
Okoyen said they were denied boarding for failing to present COVID-19 test results, which is a key requirement for the flight.
Meanwhile, FG has approved two more evacuation flights, scheduled to depart from Texas and New Jersey on July 31 and August 7 respectively.
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