No fewer than 80 Nigerians are currently seeking help to return home from Russia after being stranded in the European country. Mostly men, are seated on a blue mat in front of the country’s embassy in the European country
They were gathered in front of the building asking for help from the government as they want to return home to their families. The Super Eagles failed to advance from Group D after losing 2-1 to Argentina in the final group game on May 26.
According to a representative of the of the volunteer organization ‘Alternativa’, Oleg Melnikov, revealed that they came to find work in Russia, but were deceived and now cannot return back. He further explained that Nigeria’s return tickets were canceled on arrival in the Russian Federation, adding that the number of Nigerians in the same dilemma may be several times more that the number in this report. During this World Cup period, countless number of Nigerian girls have been forced into prostitution after being promised jobs in the European country.
However, the Embassy of Nigeria has allocated buses to fellow citizens, on which they will be taken to hostels, stay paid for by the diplomatic mission for a period of five days. During this time, the diplomats expect to settle the issue of returning citizens to their homeland.
Meanwhile, one of the football fans revealed that they came to the embassy in Russia for help, saying that they just want to return to their families in Nigeria
“We came here to come and plead to our government in Nigeria because all of us came here to watch football, and we paid our flight tickets to and fro. “But unfortunately, we cannot get our return back and it is so disappointing to us because we never planned to stay back in Russia.
“We want to go back and that is why we are pleading to both our government and that of Russia to help us.”
