The Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has assured Nigerians stranded in Iran and Qatar that evacuation efforts will commence once it is safe for flights to operate in the region.
Dabiri-Erewa gave the assurance while responding to a Nigerian on the social media platform X who appealed for evacuation assistance from Qatar amid rising tensions between Israel and Iran.
According to her, evacuation plans are already in place but will only be carried out when regional airspace is considered safe for flights.
“Once the airspace is safe to fly, you will be evacuated,” she said.
The NiDCOM boss had earlier disclosed that Nigerians willing to leave Iran were already being escorted across the Armenia border by Nigerian embassy officials.
She also noted that no Nigerian in Iran has so far been affected by the ongoing conflict.
Tensions in the region escalated after joint airstrikes by the United States and Israel on February 28, which reportedly resulted in the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, and triggered retaliatory missile and drone attacks.
Although the Nigerian community in Iran is relatively small mainly students and traders the Federal Government has faced pressure to ensure safe evacuation routes, as intermittent closures of regional airspace, including in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, have left many Nigerian travellers stranded amid flight disruptions triggered by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.