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COVID-19: 160 Stranded Nigerians Depart U.S. for Abuja

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New Jersey (United States), May 10, 2020 (NAN) The first batch of Nigerians stranded in the United States due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is on their way back home.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 160 Nigerians, including eight infants, made the first batch of evacuees.

They are returning aboard an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787 aircraft under the special flight arrangements by the Federal Government for nationals stranded abroad.

In line with the government’s pre-departure infection prevention control guidelines, temperature checks were conducted on the passengers by a special medical team.

The plane departed the Newark International Airport, New Jersey, on Saturday around 8:20 p.

m. local time (1:20 a.m. in Nigeria on Sunday).

It is expected to arrive at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, around noon on Sunday.

On arrival, the evacuees would be quarantined for 14 days in Abuja before leaving for their respective destinations in the country.

At the airport to coordinate the departure activities were officials of the Nigerian consulate in New York, led by the Consul-General, Mr Benaoyagha Okoyen.

Also, around to bid the evacuees farewell was Amb. Tijani Muhammad-Bande, President of the United Nations General Assembly and Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN.

He was joined by Amb. Samson Itegboje, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the UN, among others.

Speaking to newsmen, Okoyen lauded the evacuees for their cooperation and orderly conduct throughout the process.

“It was successful and we are happy that everything was orderly. As you must have observed, the boarding was also orderly,”  he said.

Some of the passengers, who spoke to NAN, expressed gratitude to the Federal Government for the special flight arrangement.

Dr Jatto Ibrahim, a consultant orthopedic surgeon at the  Federal Medical Centre, Jigawa, said he was in the U.S. for a training programme in February.

Ibrahim said he was stranded after his return British Airways flight scheduled for April 10 was suspended following  Federal Government’s travel restrictions on U.S. and 12 other countries with high COVID-19 burden, on March 18.

Another evacuee, Mr Chidi Ikegbu, a businessman from Imo, said a business engagement took him to the U.S. in March.

However, Ikegbu, who travelled through Ethiopian Airlines, said he had to pay for the special flight after the airline refused to let him use his return ticket for the flight.

“I called the airline but they said our return tickets were valid until December, and so we had to wait for the return flight after the restrictions were lifted in Nigeria.

“They said but if we wanted to go now through the special flight, then we had to pay for it,” he said.

Reacting to this, Mr Million Legesse, the Traffic and Sales Manager of Ethiopian Airlines, New York, said any of the evacuees with a return ticket could use it for a U.S.-Nigeria flight in the future.

“But if the passengers are no longer going to use the return tickets, we would refund them based on our refund policy,” Legesse said.

Dr Iwuozo Obilo, a U.S.-based Nigerian medical doctor, who was part of the medical team that screened the passengers, said their temperatures were normal.

“Temperature taking is one of the criteria to determine COVID-19 symptoms.

“Although, it is not enough because there are people with the virus who are not symptomatic, it will give us an overview of their health.

“Since, they will be be quarantined for 14 days in Nigeria, at least we are sure none of them has fever that will affect them during the flight,” Obilo told NAN. (NAN)

Foreign News

Russian Army Fires Ballistic Missiles at Kiev from Crimean Peninsula

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The Russian Army has hit the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, with ballistic missiles, injuring four people and damaging an uninhabited three-storey building, according to officials.

Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said  that two of the injured  people were in a central neighbourhood and  had been taken to hospital.

Rocket debris also fell in two other neighbourhoods.

According to the Ukrainian air force, two ballistic missiles were fired at the city of millions, from the Russian-controlled Crimea Peninsula.

Both were shot down.

Half a dozen explosions from anti-aircraft missiles had previously been heard in the city centre.

The air raid warning was only triggered a few seconds beforehand, it said.

Ukraine has been facing  Russian invasion for over two years.

Since then, the Ukrainian air defence system has been massively reinforced with Western systems. (dpa/NAN)

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Cambodia Arrests 2 Foreigners for Smuggling 2.27 kg Narcotics

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Cambodian customs police at the Phnom Penh International Airport said they have arrested two South Korean nationals for an attempt to smuggle 2.27 kg narcotics to South Korea.

The duo, a man and woman, were caught Sunday night while they checked in for a ZA215 flight bound for Seoul.

The General Department of Customs and Excise of Cambodia said in a news release on Monday.

In their body searches, our customs officials found many packs of drugs wrapped around their waists, the news release said.

“As a result, some 1.29 kg of crystal methamphetamine and 0.98 kg of ketamine were seized from the two suspects’ possession.’’

The Southeast Asian country has no death sentence for a drug trafficker.

Under its law, someone found guilty of trafficking more than 80 grammes of illicit drugs could be jailed for life.

According to the country’s Anti-Drug Department (ADP), Cambodia nabbed 3,899 drug-related suspects, including 106 foreigners, in 1,659 cases from Jan. 1 to March 3, 2024.

According to the report they confiscated a total of 2.79 tonnes of narcotics.

Most of the seized drugs were ketamine, crystal methamphetamine, methamphetamine tablets, heroin, ecstasy, and cocaine. (Xinhua/NAN)

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February Ends with Extreme Heat – WMO

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The UN weather agency, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), says February saw more extreme heat and unusually high temperatures in both hemispheres.

Summarising the state of the climate, it said the month ended with extreme heat in the southern hemisphere where it is summer, while high temperatures atypical of the northern hemisphere winter prevailed.

Parts of North and South America, northwest and southeast Africa, southeast and far eastern Asia, western Australia and Europe all saw record-breaking temperatures, either on a daily basis or for all of February.

“The anomalous heat is consistent with the persisting warming observed since June 2023, with seven consecutive new global monthly temperature records, including January 2024,” Alvaro Silva, a climatologist working with the WMO, said in a statement.

Global sea surface temperatures were record high. While the El Niño weather pattern “has stoked temperatures in some parts of the world, human induced climate change is the long-term major contributing factor,” he added.

Conversely, a large part of northwestern Canada, central Asia – and from southern central Siberia to southeastern China – witnessed exceptional cold during the last week of the month.

The meteorological winter in the northern hemisphere and summer in the southern hemisphere finished officially at the end of February.

Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) raised increasing concern on Friday that more refugees would cross into Chad from Darfur in the coming weeks amid a worrying lack of food and other essentials.

Almost a year since the start of the civil war between rival militaries in Sudan, neighbouring Chad urgently needs more humanitarian aid and significant development investment, the agency reported, especially in its eastern areas which are hosting the refugee influx.

This investment will allow the country to continue its generous open-door stance towards refugees.

“Chadian officials are concerned that many more hungry Sudanese families will come in the next weeks,” said Kelly Clements, UNHCR’s Deputy High Commissioner, who is in the country to review the relief operation.

“The country is committed to keeping its borders open, despite the fragility of this region.

“But, doing so will put even more strain on Chad, which has so graciously been hosting refugees from Sudan’s war – now raging almost a year – and other refugees still here from earlier emergencies.” (NAN)

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