From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The presidency has said that President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the immediate evacuation of Nigerian students stranded in the Dominican Island after Hurricane Maria bashed the island.
Nigerian students attend medical schools in Dominican Islands which prepare them to move to the United States and Europe for the completion of their medical degree programmes.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, confirmed the presidential order, saying that the president was touched by the conditions of the students.
He said the directive was handed down to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which had swung into action.
The media aide said the ministry had assigned a senior official who travelled to issue the stranded students with temporary travel certificates.
He confirmed that the affected students had since been evacuated to safety.
Shehu said: “Mr. President was deeply touched when he learnt that some of them escaped with nothing but the shirts on their backs.”
According to him, the students will be moved to Brazil, where they don’t need visas for their onward evacuation to Nigeria.
At least 10 people were reported killed as Hurricane Maria, ranked a Category 4 storm, raged through the Caribbean including parts of the Dominican Republic with heavy rain and high winds as it coursed through the east coast last week Thursday.
Hurricane Maria, with sustained winds of up to 155 miles per hour (250 km per hour), hit Puerto Rico on Wednesday, making it the strongest storm to hit the U.S. territory in nearly 90 years.