Nigerians in Lebanon have disagreed with the Federal Government over the claim that about 500 of them have registered for evacuation due to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
During the weekend, the Nigerian Embassy in Beirut, the Lebanese capital, announced that at least 500 Nigerians were registered for evacuation out of the country with the Nigerian Embassy.
The statement read “Presently, about 500 Nigerians have registered with the mission; however, there are more than 2,000 Nigerian citizens residing in the country.
“Even though most of them have not indicated a willingness to return home despite the persuasion by our embassy, we will continue to do everything to ensure the safety of our citizens,” Abu-Obe stated.
But speaking on Monday with Newsmen, the President of the Nigerian Community in Lebanon, Mr. Roland Aigbovbiosa, described the claim as “very untrue and incorrect.”
He said, “As the President of the Nigerian community here, I am confirming to you that this is not true. There are no 500 Nigerians registered for evacuation here.”
Aigbovbiosa noted that the 500 Nigerians the ministry was referring to were not those who had registered for evacuation, but those who had been officially profiled by the Nigerian Embassy in Lebanon for documentation only.
He said, “I think the misunderstanding came from something we have been doing. Before now, the Nigerian community and the embassy have been trying to register the Nigerians who are in Lebanon to know those who have legal documents and those who do not.
“This exercise has been going on for over two years. There are over 2,000 Nigerians here, but out of this, only a little above 500 of them have come out to register with the embassy just for profiling, and they have been doing that before the war and any other crisis. I think people are mistaking this 500 for the number of people who have registered for evacuation. But that is very untrue and incorrect.”
