A Dubai-based journalist, Ashleigh Stewart has revealed that assistance has commenced for the 35 stranded Nigerians who were sleeping at a Dubai park because their companies stopped paying their salaries.
The Nigerians who were spotted in a park sleeping didn't have access to running water even though it is currently the “peak summer in Dubai”, she tweeted.
In an earlier tweet, Stewart said that the Nigerian Embassy was aware of their plight, as the stranded Nigerians were previously sleeping outside the embassy, but were moved to the park after they appealed for help, Nairametrics reported.
“They have been appealing to the Nigerian embassy for an aid flight home but have yet to succeed. Around 70 of them were flown home last week.
“One of the women, a former housemaid, has been here 2 weeks. She has 3 children in Nigeria and just wants to get home to them. Another man, a nutritionist, arrived in January to find work and said he had been applying for everything ‘even labourer jobs’ and couldn’t find a job,” she tweeted.
In a subsequent tweet, Stewart said she had to delete the previous tweet because plans to assist the Nigerians had already commenced. Stewart says that the Nigerians just want to return home, as was informed it would either be via sponsors, airlines, or the embassy. She, therefore, called for support to buy their tickets back to Nigeria.
Stewart later thanked concerned people that have offered to help and said the plan is to reach the Nigerian embassy.
“They, and humanitarian groups as well as the Dubai Government, are working on getting a more formal channel to help them set up in the meantime. I’m told that everything is being done to get them home as soon as physically possible and to get them comfortable accommodation as well,” she said.
...getting a more formal channel to help them set up in the meantime. I’m told that everything is being done to get them home as soon as physically possible and to get them comfortable accommodation as well. 2/2
— Ashleigh Stewart (@Ash_Stewart_) August 21, 2020
