UKRAINE OFFERS TO TRANSFER NIGERIAN STUDENTS TO SAFER REGIONS TO CONTINUE THEIR STUDIES

The Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science has requested all Nigerian students undergoing various courses in higher institutions in the two Ukrainian crisis regions of Donetsk and Lugansk to urgently forward their names, passport numbers, name of their institutions, courses, year of study and alternative universities within Ukraine, to either the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, East and Central European Affairs Division Abuja or Nigerian Embassy in Kiev. Such required details will enable the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science to transfer the students to universities in safer Central and Western regions of the country to continue their studies.

2. The directive became necessary following heavy fighting between the Ukrainian Military and Separatists in Donetsk and Lugansk regions, while the 2014/2015 academic session commenced on 1st September, 2014. It is estimated that there are two thousand (2,000) Nigerian students studying in various higher institutions of the two regions, out of which about 1,650 had returned either to Nigeria or had moved to safer places at the end of 2013/2014 academic session. The remaining 350 Nigerian students were trapped in the two troubled regions of Ukraine.

3. It is therefore, advisable for the parents and guardians whose wards are studying in these two crisis regions of Ukraine to take urgent steps to get this information across to them wherever they may be for appropriate action.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abuja
10th September, 2014