It all began with a post on Twitter by COVID-19 reporter, Richard Barrow. On May 17, 2020, Barrow posted on his timeline that some Nigerians were trapped in a Thailand airport and were not able to enter Thailand nor go back to Nigeria.
The post read: “Apparently there are some Nigerians who have been trapped at Suvarnabhumi airport for the last two months just like in the movie The Terminal. They cannot enter Thailand and they cannot go home.
“What is heartwarming are the ordinary Thais who are supporting them. Thank you.”
On May 18, 2020, Barrow provided an update by tweeting: “UPDATE: Two arrived on 21 March on an Emirates flight with the intention to connect to Laos. The other one arrived on 24 March on Etihad with a connection to Myanmar. Unfortunately both of those countries closed their borders.
“None of them could travel back to Nigeria as that route was closed too. As they didn’t have a visa for Thailand (they were only in transit), they couldn’t enter the country. So, they have been trapped in the airport for nearly two months now.”
He disclosed further that the authorities of the airport had been giving them food, drinking water, basic care and they had tested negative to coronavirus disease.
On that same day, Nigerians In Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) under the leadership of Abike Dabiri-Erewa responded to Barrow’s tweet and said that the Commission would liaise with the mission in Thailand to work out the modalities of helping the stranded Nigerians.
Some hours later, NIDCOM confirmed that a Nigerian consular officer and immigration police in Thailand had gone to see them. NIDCOM added that: “Our embassy in Bangkok is in touch with them and they will return home safely.”
So far, NIDCOM has helped a lot of stranded Nigerians abroad. A Nigerian lady who was put up for sale on Facebook by her master in Lebanon was helped and many other Nigerians who were stranded in United States, United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom and other countries have been airlifted by the Commission.
Recently, the Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama confirmed that more efforts were being put in place to bring more citizens back home despite the challenges posed by border closures around the world.
