KUCHING: Fifty Malaysians stranded in Nigeria since March 20 following the country’s restrictive measures due to the Covid-19 pandemic are pleading to the Malaysian government to expedite their return.
The group, in a statement on Friday, wants the government to take immediate action by sending a one way flight from Victoria Island, Lagos in Nigeria to Kuala Lumpur.
The group said the Malaysian High Commission in Abuja, Nigeria had worked day and night to execute a repatriation plan and the first flight was supposed to take off on May 31, 2020.
The plan was to fly a chartered Air Peace Boeing 777 flight from Lagos to Kuala Lumpur with a mix of Asean nationalities in exchange of Nigeria citizens in Kuala Lumpur.
Due to a delay in Nigeria airport’s preparation to accept their citizens, the flight was postponed to June 20 and later to June 28, 2020. However, they claimed that there have been no updates from the Nigeria government.
They hoped that the Malaysian government would take immediate action to arrange for their return.
They also hoped that the government would assist some of the stranded Malaysians in the form of loan for their flight as they were running out of cash due to the lock down.
“The situation here is really bad with poor enforcement of movement control order (MCO), high crime rate and unstable electricity supply (intermittent blackout for few hours in a day).
“Once again, we plead to the Malaysian government to prioritise our embarkation as soon as possible,” they said in the statement.
On June 2, a Sarawakian named Malcolm Goh working in Lagos since February this year and now stranded in Lagos had posted on his Facebook post seeking the Malaysian government’s help to return.
According to Goh, other nationalities like China, Egypt, United Kingdom, Brazil, India had already flown out of Nigeria to return to their homeland.
Goh said the Malaysia High Commission in Abuja, Nigeria had been really helpful in arranging and planning repatriation flight. However, due to the closure of Lagos airport, the only means of transport was via chartered flight.
On June 13, Minister of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the return of the stranded Malaysians in Nigeria depended on the implementation of relevant protocols and standard operating procedures (SOPs) on the Nigerian government’s part.
“The Nigerian government wants its people in Malaysia to return and the arrangements are being made. All of this now depends on the speed of the Nigerian government in preparing the SOPs for its returning citizens.
“I understand their situation and sympathise with them. We are doing our best. For now we wait. When the Nigerian government has prepared their SOPs and protocols, then it can be carried out,” said Wan Junaidi.
