Safety: Nigerian students, others stranded in Ukraine amid Russian attacks

*Thousands of Nigerian students and other professionals living in Ukraine are stuck the amid Russian invasion and closure of the Ukrainian airspace to flight operations

Gbenga Kayode | ConsumerConnect

As the Russian troops began attacks on Ukraine in the wee hours of Thursday, February 24, 2022, thousands of Nigerian students in Ukraine as well as other professionals living in the country are reportedly stuck amid the long-awaited invasion and subsequent  closure of the Ukrainian airspace.

ConsumerConnect learnt estimated 4,000 Nigerians were studying in tertiary institutions across Ukraine as of 2020, according to data from the Ukrainian Government, the figure said to be the highest number of African nationals there in the country.

Long queues on the main traffic arteries out of the Ukrainian capital as residents flee by cars   Photo: Reuters

Shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s half-hour speech declaring war on Ukraine, Annora Omolu, a Nigerian undergraduate at Kyiv Medical University, heard a small blast by the window of her apartment, agency report said.

The blast startled the 20-year-old who started simultaneously shaking and praying. In the days before Putin’s speech, Omolu was said to be calm because everything in Kyiv had seemed normal at the time.

However, as she remained glued to the television, her calmness quickly gave way to crippling fear, report stated.

The Nigerian undergraduate told Al Jazeera: “I don’t even know right now (how I feel) because I cannot think…. I’m literally shaking.”

At daybreak Thursday, February 24, Omolu tried to book a flight to Lviv in western Ukraine, some 469 kilometres from the capital in order to join other Nigerians there and cross to Poland.

However, the Ukrainian Government had shut down its airspace to flight operations according to report.

Confused and scared, the young Nigerian student began to reach out to the Nigerian Embassy in Ukraine for assistance. “Can they send us flights?” she asked.

‘Everybody is absolutely on their own’ in Ukraine  ─Report

Over the last 20 years, Ukraine has emerged as a choice destination for African students, especially those in medicine-related fields, because it is cheaper compared with elsewhere in Europe, and the United States (US).

Even during the Cold War era, students of African descent were given scholarships to study in different states across the Soviet Union as the communist enclave sought to increase its soft power in Africa.

Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, Honourable Minister for Foreign Affairs

Further still, estimated 4,000 Nigerians were studying in tertiary institutions across Ukraine in 2020, according to data from the government, the highest number of African nationals there, along with Morocco.

Ahead of Russia’s invasion Thursday, over a dozen European and Asian countries were urging their citizens to leave Ukraine.

US, Canada, Germany, Australia, others evacuating citizens for safety

For personal safety of their citizens resident in Ukraine, the United States, Canada, Germany, Australia, and other countries have evacuated members of their diplomatic staff and their families.

Nevertheless, even after the invasion, no African country has announced “concrete plans” for the evacuation of its citizens.

Many African governments have no sense of responsibility ─Atlas Network Fellow

It was gathered that Morocco and Egypt, which also have high numbers of citizens studying in Ukraine, have only urged them to ensure their personal safety.

The Nigerian Embassy, in a recent statement issued January 26, 2022, amid the rising tensions between Russia, Ukraine, and the United States over Russia’s possible ‘further’ incursion into Ukraine, also informed its citizens living in Ukraine to avoid unnecessary travel within the country.

The West African country’s Embassy also urged the concerned Nigerians to take their individual and collective security seriously, as well as ensure that they always carry requisite identifications while in transit in the foreign country.

Ibrahim Anoba, a Fellow at US-based Center for African Prosperity at the Atlas Network, said, “Many of the African governments do not simply have a sense of responsibility to their citizens.”

More so, amid the confusing atmosphere in the country, Nigerian students’ unions in Ukraine said that they made several calls to the Nigerian Embassy in Kyiv without getting a response, according to report.

Anjola Ero-Phillips, President of the Nigerian Students’ Union in Lviv, told Al Jazeera, that “there has been no embassy response.

“All they say is check the Web site and the last update on the Web site is January 26. Everybody is absolutely on their own.”

Federal Government’s response

After making a phone call to one of the Nigerian Embassy representatives, report further indicates the official said that the office had to get Abuja’s approval to be able to initiate any form of evacuations, report said.

However, a statement released by the Embassy in Ukraine Thursday simply urged Nigerian nationals to “remain calm but be very vigilant and be responsible for their personal security and safety.”

It said: “Should any of Nigerian nationals considers (sic) the situation as emotionally disturbing, such nationals may wish to temporary relocate to anywhere consider (sic) safe by private arrangements.”

Similarly, the House of Representaives in the National Assembly (NASS), Abuja, tweeted that it would “shoulder the immediate evacuation of Nigerian students from Ukraine” and that the chair of its foreign affairs committee would fly into Ukraine Friday, but did not outline the details of its plan.

Assurances of safety with no ‘definitive position’ on evacuations

Ms. Francisca Omayuli, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Abuja, in a statement issued Thursday said: “The Federal Government of Nigeria has received with surprise, reports of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (l) and Russian President Vladimir Putin 

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been reassured by the Nigerian Embassy in Ukraine of the safety of Nigerians in that country and measures being undertaken to keep them safe and facilitate the evacuation of those who wish to leave.”

The Ministry also stated: “The Federal Government wishes to assure the families with loved ones in Ukraine that as soon as the airports in the country are opened, it would assist in facilitating the evacuation of Nigerians who are willing to leave.

“In the meantime, the Nigerian Mission has confirmed that military action by the Russians has been confined to military installations.”

Likewise, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, Honourable Minister for Foreign Affairs, also told the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), that willing and ready students would be evacuated as soon as the airports open in Ukraine.

The Minister stated: “The advice we were getting was that we should not panic, the embassy was in touch with the students telling them to take reasonable precautions.”

Onyeama, however, noted that the Nigerian Government, initially, was “undecided”, given Russia’s previous position not to invade Ukraine and intelligence reports from the US and the UK that an invasion was imminent.

“It was very difficult to take a definitive position with regard to advising everybody to leave,” said he.

Nonetheless, as regards immediate evacuations from Ukraine, Aanu Adeoye, London-based Mo Ibrahim Foundation Academy Fellow at Chatham House, who researches Africa-Russia relations, was quoted to have said that a number of supposedly “first-world” countries of the world also lacked mass evacuation plans for their citizens.

But Adeoye stated: “I think where Nigeria has not covered itself in glory is that their communication has been muddled.

“They basically have not had a unified message to Nigerians.

“Even something as basic as having a functional website, that just shows a lack of strategy.”

Meanwhile, Nigerian students in Ukraine remain unsure of whatever comes next, report noted.

They have continued to express grievances with the embassy, accusing the authorities of neglecting their concerns even though they say they already have low expectations.

Owolabi Gbolahan, ex-President of Nigerian Students’ Union in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, told Al Jazeera: “From experience, I don’t think we can count on (the) Nigerian Government to do anything.”

His submission, according to report, must have resulted from his recent experience when his tenure coincided with the peak of the Coronavirus pandemic, when he accused the government of neglecting Nigerian students as other countries were evacuating their citizens from Ukraine then.

Meanwhile, young Omolu is reportedly desperate to return to Nigeria, or even get to Lyiv first, but remains trapped in Kyiv, Ukraine, where she cannot even move about.

“I am just tensed (but) thinking of a plan to leave,’’ she said.

Additional reporting by Isola Moses.

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