A Nigerian Lady aboard a repatriation flight from the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday gave birth to a baby mid-air, Punch reports.
Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, confirmed the news.
She, however, did not reveal the gender of the child but said the mother and baby were doing well.
In a bid to repatriate citizens to the country, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, had said 265 Nigerians would arrive in Lagos from Dubai on Wednesday as part of efforts to bring Nigerians willing to come back into the country amid the coronavirus outbreak.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in the process of evacuating Nigerians from abroad and in accordance with Nigeria Centre for Disease Control guidelines, the evacuees will undergo a mandatory 14-day supervised quarantine in a monitored environment.
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“In this regard, Emirates Airlines is scheduled to evacuate the first batch of 265 Nigerians from Dubai, United Arab Emirates and they will arrive at 3:00 pm on Wednesday, 6th May 2020 at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos,” Onyeama had said in a statement through the ministry’s spokesperson, Ferdinand Nwonye.
However, sources close to the airline stated that the flight left Dubai for Lagos at 10 am and all the passengers were tested and found to be COVID-19-free.
According to the source, a Lady, however, gave birth an hour into the about eight hours trip and the pilots had to return the plane to Dubai to disembark the mother and the newborn.
Punch reports that efforts to reach the minister proved abortive but the NIDCOM chair, who did not pick her call responded to a text message sent to her line by our correspondent.