Another set of Britons, no less than 304 of them were on Tuesday evacuated from Nigeria through the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos, by the United Kingdom (UK) government.
The UK citizens, including 21 crew members were airlifted at about 4:45 pm local time by a British Airways Boeing B747, with registration mark BAW 9156, to Heathrow Airport, London.
British High Commissioner, Mrs Catriona Laing, said the final batch of the airlift would take place on May 8.
Since the outbreak and spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria, the UK has evacuated a total of about 1,699 citizens from Nigeria.
The UK Mission said in a statement that the evacuations were made possible by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Transportation and Aviation, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Lagos State authorities.
Information on UK Mission’s website reveals that each passenger paid £477.50 from Abuja and £490.50 from Lagos.
According to Laing, to qualify for all flights, the primary residence has to be in the UK. She added that they prioritised helping the most vulnerable and those who have an underlying medical condition.
The last batch of UK citizens to be evacuated from Nigeria will take place on May 8 and Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama said the aircraft lifting the last batch to the UK would bring back about 300 Nigerians from the UK, who wished to return home.