The Federal Government has said the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation have agreed to fund part of the evacuation cost of Nigerians from abroad during their 14-day compulsory quarantine.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama who disclosed this on Monday at the Presidential Task Force Briefing on COVID-19, noted that the agreement also involves making funds available for the accommodation of the evacuees when they touch down in Nigeria.
He admitted that a lot went wrong with logistics in the case of passengers who were transported to Abuja, but assured that better arrangement will be made to prevent any future recurrence.
He said, “After getting all the barrage from all around the world including that we were somehow conspiring with hotels to fleece Nigerians and make money for ourselves and other kinds of accusations, we continued to diverse to find a way through.
“They say that two heads are better than one. The Honourable Minister of Environment, Dr Mahmoud Abubakar, called me on Friday and suggested that why not try NNPC and CBN. They have corporate social responsibility funding and I told him I will do that immediately.
“I got in touch with the governor of the CBN and he generously agreed. He said the amount I was talking about is over a billion naira because we have over 4000 Nigerians out there and if over 3000 of them come back, the cost of feeding and accommodation is over a billion naira that we don’t have. He said he was ready to share the cost with the NNPC.
“I spoke with the GMD of NNPC and he said he was going to consult and thanks be to God today (Monday), he got back to me and he said he was going to meet with the governor of CBN and together, they will fund this portion, a very important one, the feeding and accommodation of the evacuees.”
