Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission [NIDCOM], Abike Dabiri-Erewa, as reported by Punch stated that both the mother and child are well.
Recall that TheCheer had earlier today reported that 265 evacuated Nigerians would return at 3 pm from Dubai over COVID-19.
According to the source, a woman, however, gave birth an hour into the about eight hours trip and the pilots had to return the plane to Dubai to disembark the mother and the newborn.
Efforts to reach the minister proved abortive but the NIDCOM chair, who did not pick her call but responded to a text message sent to her line by our correspondent said, “Yes, the plane had to return. Mother and child (are) fine.”
READ ALSO: First Batch Of Evacuated 265 Nigerians From Dubai Will Arrive At 3 Pm
Our correspondent sent her another text message to ascertain whether the plane would still be landing in Nigeria today but she was yet to reply as of the time of filing this report.
Geoffrey Onyeama, the Minister of Foreign Affairs had stated that the returnees would be quarantined and monitored for 14 days in “accordance with Nigeria Centre for Disease Control guidelines”.
He said: “In this regard, Emirates Airlines is scheduled to evacuate the first batch of 265 Nigerians from Dubai, United Arab Emirates and they will arrive at 3:00 pm on Wednesday, 6th May 2020 at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.
“Arrangements for hotel accommodation in Lagos and Abuja have been made for the evacuation process,” Onyeama had said in a statement through the ministry’s spokesperson, Ferdinand Nwonye
Reports gathered that though the evacuation flight left Dubai for Lagos at 10 am and all the passengers were tested and found to be COVID-19-free, the plane had to return to Dubai after the woman gave birth an hour into the flight.
