Ukraine-Russia war: FG woefully failed Nigerian students, says HURIWA

A civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), on Tuesday, lambasted the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari for its tardy response to a Save-Our-Soul message sent to him, seeking immediate evacuation from war-wracked European country, Ukraine by Nigerian students.

HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, knocked the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; the Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, and the Nigerian Embassy in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, for foot-dragging on the request of the over 5,000 helpless Nigerian students in the wake of the bloody invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces.

Before the destructive and illegal invasion by men sent by President Vladimir Putin, many countries and foreign missions had been proactive enough to evacuate their nationals, “but same cannot be said of the government of Buhari that waited till airspaces are closed to make knee-jerk, face-saving reactions.”

Onwubiko said: “Like other aspects, President Muhammadu Buhari’s Presidency fumbled again, this time woefully, because it failed to effectively and timeously evacuate Nigerians from Ukraine many weeks before the eventual war started following the needless invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

“The Foreign Affairs Minister also failed. NIDCOM has failed. The Embassy of Nigeria in Ukraine has failed. We failed our children who are mostly students in Ukraine and these are youths that left due to neglect of government of the educational sector and the incessant strikes by Academic Staff Union of Universities due to the failures of the federal government to keep to its own side of the obligations.

“Of course, the elite ruling Nigeria all have their kids in Western Europe, Canada, USA and so they don’t care if these mostly children of struggling parents are killed in Ukraine.

“HURIWA calls for the immediate resignations of education, and foreign affairs ministers as well as the sacking of the Diaspora commission boss.

“The world is watching how the Nigerian government under Buhari treats students abroad and history will be frank to record his lackadaisical attitude to the wellbeing of these helpless students.”