The Nigerian government has evacuated 269 stranded Nigerians were trapped in India due to coronavirus pandemic.
According to local media reports, the returnees who arrived in the country from India in the early hours of Saturday, were brought back to Nigeria aboard an Air Peace plane. The aircraft first landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja before proceeding to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.
The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), which announced the arrival of the returnees on its Twitter handle, said that 103 of the evacuees arrived in Lagos, while 166 others landed in Abuja at about 2am, after a few hours of delay.
The Commission added that after their arrival, the returnees were subjected to compulsory 14 days self-isolation, in line with the protocol by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.
According to the Commission, all the evacuees tested negative before boarding the plane and they would be re-tested within 72 hours at a designated testing centre of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
GIK/APA