The Federal Government has intensified efforts to rescue Nigerians currently trapped in Lebanon as the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah worsens as it was learned.
This came as the President of the Nigerian Community in Lebanon, Mr. Roland Aigbovbiosa, said more than 70 Nigerians have so far registered for evacuation from the crisis-ridden country.
The current crisis began in September when Iran launched a barrage of 180 ballistic missiles toward Israel in retaliation for the assassination of Iran-backed militant leaders.
The missile attack, which targeted key sites in Israel, sent Israelis scrambling to shelters, raising concerns about a wider regional conflict.
Although the Israeli Defense Forces managed to intercept the missiles, the incident has heightened instability in the region, including Lebanon, which borders Israel and faces its own internal security challenges.
In response to the situation, the Federal Government, through the Special Assistant to the Nigerian President on Social Media, Dada Olusegun, issued an alert on October 1 via X.com, urging all Nigerians in Lebanon to get in touch with the Nigerian Embassy in Beirut for profiling, documentation, and potential evacuation.
The government activated its emergency evacuation protocols through the agencies working closely with the Nigerian mission in Lebanon, especially the National Emergency Management Agency, among others.
Some of the trapped Nigerians in the country cried out to the Federal Government last week for quick intervention as the conflict deepened in Beirut, the Lebanese capital.
Speaking with our correspondent, the spokesperson for NEMA, Manzo Ezekiel, said the agencies and the coordinating Ministry of Foreign Affairs were already intensifying efforts on the evacuation plans.
He noted that the evacuation plans were to give a sense of national responsibility given the critical conditions of some Nigerians in the troubled country.
That is the whole sense of it. If it happens, fine. If it doesnt happen, fine. At least, it shows that the government did not fold its arms while its citizens were in a crisis zone.
But as I speak to you, all the preparations are still on the table. So that is just the idea, he stated.
On how far the registration for evacuation had gone, the President of the Nigerian Community said on Saturday, Last week, the number was around 30. But since then, Nigerians have been coming almost every day, so we now have a little above 70.
The issue we are facing now is knowing how soon the Federal Government will commence the evacuation.
Explaining why the government should kick off the evacuation exercise immediately, he said, Personally, I oppose the idea of waiting for the number to increase to either 400 or 500 before coming to evacuate the people, because even the life of a single person matters.
I believe that whatever we have is enough for the evacuation to begin because the people who have indicated an interest in going back home are suffering.
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