This followed the invasion of Ukraine by Russia on Thursday and the deaths and destruction that has elicited global condemnation.
This is just as the House Representatives said it would give every needed support to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to begin the evacuation process.
Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, who re-enforced the position of the legislature when he invited the minister of Foreign Affairs, Godfrey Onyeama, to his office in Abuja yesterday for a meeting on the plight of Nigerians caught in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, said the first batch of the air-lifting is now scheduled to take place tomorrow.
The evacuation earlier planned for Monday (yesterday) was rescheduled for Wednesday to give enough room for the ministry, the House, and the Nigerian foreign missions in Ukraine, Poland, and Russia to complete the formalities of moving Nigerians from inside Ukraine to safe borders with neighboring countries.
Gbajabiamila, while commending the ministry for the steps taken so far to ensure the safety of Nigerians, the majority of who are students, however, stated that the country must find ways to quicken its response time to emergencies.
He noted that response mechanisms, including funds, airplanes, and other equipment, must readily be on standby to respond to life-threatening situations such as the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and how they affected Nigerians.
“We must be in a state of readiness at all times. We should have our planes and necessary funding to respond quickly to such emergencies”, the Speaker stated.
He listed measures the National Assembly would take to include legislation to address such emergencies and supplementary appropriations among others.
Gbajabiamila recalled how the House was left with no choice but to pass a resolution on Thursday last week, mandating its Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, and the chairman, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Buba, to work with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and proceed to Ukraine by the weekend to facilitate the air-lifting of students home.
He added that this was the last resort as members were bombarded with telephone calls by their constituents, coupled with the viral videos and pictures of Nigerians caught in the conflict, appealing to the Nigerian Government to come to their aid urgently.
On his part, Onyeama, while giving the Speaker a situation report, reassured the Speaker that things were under control in Ukraine, as the federal government has put necessary arrangements in place to ensure the safe return of Nigerians.
He disclosed that in the last few days, the ministry in conjunction with the missions had completed formalities for Nigerians to move to safe border points from where they would be transported in buses to the airports in neighboring countries.
He listed Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, and even Russia among the countries to be used as exit points.
He informed Gbajabiamila that working closely with the governments of those countries, the ministry had secured their cooperation to grant access to Nigerians into their territories, preparatory for the evaluation.
Onyeama dismissed reports that Africans, particularly Nigerians, were not allowed to leave Ukraine or granted access into the neighboring countries, blaming the chaos at some of the borders on “panic” and the fact that so many people were rushing at the time on hearing the sound of bombs and artillery fire.
“Where we are now is the point of ascertaining the exact number we are dealing with and to agree on the location for the evaluation.
“We are thinking Bucharest; but all of this is being sorted out and we are constantly working to ensure that everything goes on very smoothly”, the minister added.
Onyeama also explained that the delay in evacuating Nigerians wasn’t because the government wasn’t ready or didn’t know what to do.
According to him, “80% to 90%” of countries and people did not believe that Russia would indeed invade Ukraine.
“I was in touch with our ambassador early enough and he assured us that there was no need for evacuation. The students even said there was no problem at all.
“Also, the Ukrainian government did not want people to leave, and especially because most of our people are students, who will not be able to go back to Ukraine again, should they leave”, Onyeama further stated.
256 Nigerians Arrive Romania, Hungary, Poland Safely
Meanwhile, about 256 Nigerians fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine have arrived safely in Romania, Hungary, and Poland in the last 24 hours.
This was disclosed in a statement issued yesterday by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gabriel Aduda, who assured that the government is making adequate arrangements to evacuate all Nigerians in safety and dignity.
“In the last 24 hours, officials of the Nigerian Embassy in Romania have received 130 Nigerians safely at Bucharest, the Romania capital, where they have been provided accommodation. They will be documented while we finalize arrangements to bring them back home.
“Also officials at Budapest, Hungary has also received and accommodated 74 Nigerians safely where they are also being documented for subsequent arrangements back home to Nigeria,” the statement said.
The permanent secretary said the government is expecting another batch of about 200 Nigerians into the city of Budapest by Monday.
According to Aduda, Nigerian officials in Warsaw, Poland, have received 52 Nigerians adding that 23 are being processed by the Polish Government Reception Point at Hala Kijowska camp, Milny.
Milny is near the border of Korczowa- Krakowiee, he noted, adding that the camp is well organized with beddings, food, heating, clothing and medicals for evacuees.
“We assure Nigerians that all hands are on deck and arrangements are in place to effectively evacuate our citizens in safety and dignity,” the statement said.
US, UK, EU, Canada Sanction Russia’s Central Bank
Meanwhile, the United States and its allies have imposed sanctions on Russia’s central bank and sovereign wealth funds, effectively freezing their assets and banning dealings with the Russian financial institutions in the latest western move to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
The US Department of the Treasury said yesterday that the sanctions will deprive Russian President Vladimir Putin of funds he needs for the war in Ukraine.
“The unprecedented action we are taking today will significantly limit Russia’s ability to use assets to finance its destabilizing activities and target the funds Putin and his inner circle depends on to enable his invasion of Ukraine,” Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen said in a statement.
A senior US administration official told reporters on condition of anonymity that freezing the central bank’s assets will weaken Russia’s ability to keep its currency afloat amid sanctions targeting its banking system and economic activity.
“Putin’s war chest of $630bn of reserves only matters if he can use it to defend his currency, specifically by selling those reserves in exchange for buying the rouble. After today’s action, that will no longer be possible, and ‘Fortress Russia’ will be exposed as a myth,” the official said.
The Treasury also said in a statement that the sanctions will “disrupt Russia’s attempts to prop up its rapidly depreciating currency by restricting global supplies of the ruble and access to reserves that Russia may try to exchange to support the ruble”.
The move was taken in coordination with allies, the US government said. The United Kingdom, European Union, and Canada also announced their penalties against Russia’s central bank.
“This has never been done before at this scale – today we are taking a historic step by directly censuring Russia’s central bank,” Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s minister of finance, said in a statement on Monday.
“Canada is firmly on the side of the heroic resistance of the people of Ukraine and we will continue to take further action to ensure President Putin does not succeed,” he added.
Monday’s measures came a day after Washington and its partners cut off key Russian banks from the SWIFT financial messaging system, a network that enables international money transfers.
Russia launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine last after a months-long standoff in the region that saw Moscow amass as many as 200,000 troops near the Ukrainian border.
Russia initially denied US and European allegations that it was planning to invade Ukraine, insisting that it has legitimate security concerns about Kyiv’s deepening alliance with the West – and demanding guarantees that Ukraine will not be allowed to join NATO.
Numerous rounds of talks between Russian, European, and American officials had failed to end the impasse.
Fighting has been intensifying across Ukraine during the past days, with Russian troops closing in on major cities, including the capital Kyiv and Kharkiv. More than 500,000 people have already fled Ukraine since Russia launched its offensive, the United Nations said on Monday.
Ukraine’s health ministry said on Sunday that 352 civilians, including 14 children, have been killed since the start of the war.
Russian and Ukrainian officials began talks at the Belarusian border on Monday, with Kyiv demanding an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of Russian troops
Cutting Energy Dependence On Russia Is An ‘Existential’ Issue, EU’s Borrell Says
The European Union faces an existential task to reduce its dependency on Russian oil and gas and move to renewable sources and hydrogen in the wake of Moscow’s attack on Ukraine, the bloc’s foreign policy chief says.
“Energy will not be out of this conflict, like it or not,” Josep Borrell told a news conference in Brussels.
“We have a dependency on Russian gas … and it is an existential policy to reduce this dependency,” he added, before warning the switch would not be easy.
About one-third of the natural gas used by the EU is currently supplied by Moscow.
US Government Urges Americans To Leave Russia Immediately
Meanwhile, the United States Embassy in Russia has advised Americans to leave the country as soon as possible, calling on them to prepare a “contingency plan that does not rely on U.S. government assistance.”
In a security alert on Sunday, the US Embassy noted that “an increasing number of airlines are canceling flights into and out of Russia, and numerous countries have closed their airspace to Russian airlines” in response to Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.
The embassy noted this disturbing development warrant “US citizens “should consider departing Russia immediately via commercial options still available.”
It also disclosed that the US State Department’s current travel advisory for Russia was ‘Level 4: Do Not Travel’.
The advisory tells Americans not to travel to Russia “due to ongoing tension along the border with Ukraine, the potential for harassment against U.S. citizens, the embassy’s limited ability to assist U.S. citizens in Russia, COVID-19 and related entry restrictions, terrorism, harassment by Russian government security officials, and the arbitrary enforcement of local law.”
The Embassy also urged the US citizens to “review your personal security plans. Carry proper identification, including a U.S. passport with a current Russian visa.”
First Round Of Talks Comes To An End
However, the first round of talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations held at the border with Belarus has ended.
The outcome of the negotiations was not made public. The talks carried on for several hours and broke down twice, al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull said, adding that the length of the meeting “suggests they had something to talk about.”
Negotiators from Ukraine and Russia will return to their capital cities for consultations. The Russian delegation head, Vladimir Medinsky, said the two sides had “agreed to keep the negotiations going.
While negotiations are ongoing, Russian artillery bombards residential districts of Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv, killing possibly dozens of people.
The Russian- Ukraine crisis has prompted the UN General Assembly to hold the first emergency meeting in decades.
Russia faces deepening isolation and economic turmoil as the United States and other Western nations hit it with an array of sanctions.
The civilian death toll now stands at 352 people, including 14 children, Ukraine’s health ministry said, as the UN says over 500,000 people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries.
Journalist Association Warns Of Bias In Western Coverage
Meanwhile, the Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association (AMEJA) has called on all news organizations to be mindful of implicit and explicit bias in their coverage of the war in Ukraine.
The organization said it tracked examples of racist news coverage that ascribes more importance to some victims of war over others.
“This type of commentary reflects the pervasive mentality in Western journalism of normalizing tragedy in parts of the world such as the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, and Latin America,” AMEJA said.
Rocket Attacks Kill 11 In Kharkiv, Regional Official Says
The head of the regional administration in Kharkiv, Oleg Synegubov, has said that at least 11 people were killed and dozens of others wounded during Russian rocket attacks on the eastern Ukrainian city.
The city, Ukraine’s second-largest, has become one of the major battlegrounds since Moscow launched its invasion.
Synegubov said Russian forces were firing artillery at residential areas of Kharkiv where there are no Ukrainian army positions or strategic infrastructure.
“This is happening in the daytime, when people have gone out to the pharmacy, for groceries, or drinking water. It’s a crime,” he said.
It was not immediately possible to independently verify the casualty figures. Earlier Interior Ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko said Russian rocket bombardments on Kharkiv on Monday had killed dozens of people.
Shell To Sell Stakes In Gazprom Joint Ventures
British oil giant Shell has announced in a statement to the London Stock Exchange that it plans to sell its stake in all joint ventures with Russia’s state-owned oil company Gazprom.
Ukraine Makes Offer To Russian Soldiers Who Lay Down Weapons
Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov has appealed to Russian soldiers, saying they will receive full amnesty and monetary compensation if they lay down their weapons.
“Those of you who do not want to become a murderer and die can save yourselves,” he said in a post on social media.
Navalny’s Supporters Call For Civil Disobedience
The movement of jailed Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, has called for a campaign of civil disobedience to protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Putin declared war on Ukraine and is trying to make everyone think that Ukraine was attacked by Russia, that is, by all of us. But that’s not right,” the Navalny team wrote on its Twitter account.
“We must show that we do not support the war. We call on Russians to show civil disobedience. Do not be silent.”
