As the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah continues, Nigerians living in Lebanon disagree with the Nigerian government over claims about evacuation.
The Federal Government said that around 500 Nigerians have signed up to leave the country.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through its spokesperson Ambassador Eche Abu-Obe, announced that about 500 Nigerians had registered with the Nigerian Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, to be evacuated.
However, the President of the Nigerian Community in Lebanon, Mr. Roland Aigbovbiosa, said this information was not true. He explained that the 500 Nigerians mentioned by the government had only been documented by the embassy and were not asking to leave Lebanon.
He said the embassy has been profiling Nigerians in Lebanon for over two years. The profiling is meant to keep records of those who have legal documents.
Out of more than 2,000 Nigerians in the country, only 500 have registered with the embassy, but this was before the war started and had nothing to do with evacuation.
Speaking on the matter, Aigbovbiosa said, “I told you on Saturday that the people who have registered for evacuation out of the 2,000 Nigerians are just a little above 20. But as we speak, the number has increased to 30.”
The Federal Government had earlier called on Nigerians in Lebanon to contact the Nigerian mission for documentation and evacuation due to the worsening conflict.
