Seventeen African countries were among the 35 states that abstained from voting on a United Nations resolution on Wednesday 2 March demanding that Russia immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine.

Sadly, students from many of these African countries are still fleeing the conflict and trying to return safely to their homelands.

Though reports of some students who have succeeded in reaching their home countries have been emerging, however information about the safety of the thousands of students from North, West, East and Southern Africa, many of them studying medicine and engineering, remains vague.

The response of African governments to the calls from students has also given rise to calls for a coordinated approach and effort to locate and repatriate the students stranded in Ukraine.

The head of the division for internationalisation and a professor in the school of communication at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, Ylva Rodny-Gumede, said that the call is for institutions such as the Association of African Universities, as well as regional bodies organising institutions of higher education, to act and to put pressures on their European counterparts to step in to protect African students in need.

Of the 17 African countries who withheld their vote in the UN General Assembly where 141 countries out of 193 member states condemned Russian aggression, Algeria recorded the first death of a student from Africa.

25-years-old Algerian Mohammed Abdel Monaim Talbi from Tlemcen who died on February 26, was an aerospace engineering student in the capital Kiev since 2018, before he was shot as he tried to flee the fighting. According to his family, He was evacuated by rescuers, but died in the hospital.

The other countries which abstained in the UN vote were Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

The African Union (AU) and international organisations, including Education Above All (EAA) and the US-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, have voiced concerns at the reports of mistreatment of students from Africa, among other students from developing countries at border crossings in Ukraine, and have been calling for the establishment of a safe passage for all students.

The pan-African body noted that it is disturbed by reports that African nationals were being blocked from crossing the border.

The executive director of the Protect Education in Insecurity and Conflict programme at EAA, Qatar, Maleiha Malik, told University World News that the EAA condemns the mistreatment of students who have left their homes to travel to learn and seek knowledge.

Malik added that Students are civilians who are away from home and vulnerable, as such should enjoy protection by all parties at all times, including by all parties to the conflict during war.

The reported actions against African and Asian students, among others, has been testing the European Association for International Education’s International Student Mobility Charter, which states that governments and higher education institutions must safeguard students against discrimination.

West Africa

Nigerian government began the airlifting of its nationals studying in Ukraine on Wednesday 2 March, after students who were fleeing the Russia-invaded country encountered difficulties at the borders with neighbouring Poland, Romania, and Hungary.

According to the ministry of foreign affairs, there are 8,000 Nigerians living in Ukraine, 5,000 of whom are students.

Foreign Affairs Minister Geoffrey Onyeama said private airlines Air Peace and Max Air had been contracted to airlift the stranded Nigerians.

After the weekly federal executive council meeting on 2 March, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Zubairu Dada, disclosed in an interview with Nigerian media that President Muhammadu Buhari approved US$8.5 million for the evacuation of the students and others fleeing Ukraine.

Ghana’s minister for foreign affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, said on 27 February it was expecting 460 Ghanaian students to travel to Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, where Ghana’s diplomatic missions, honorary consuls, and minister of foreign affairs and regional integration were on standby to receive them.

According president of the federation of Ivorian students and trainees living in Eastern Europe, Serges Guele, all the 500 Ivorians most of whom are students, were able to cross Ukraine borders before the arrival of the delegation of Phillipe Mangou, Ivory Coast ambassador in Germany and responsible for Poland.

Guela said in an email sent to local media that the Ivorians are requested to go to Krakow (Poland) or Berlin (Germany), where there are centers that can provide care and assistance.

East Africa

According to Kenya’s ministry of foreign affairs, about 200 Kenyan students who are mainly studying medicine and engineering, have secured safe passage mostly through Poland.

In a statement to the East African and other media houses in Nairobi on 1 March, the Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary, Macharia Kamau, said the Kenyan government negotiated with the European Union to allow Kenyan students unrestricted entry into Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania.

Although Kamau did not elaborate on the procedure of how students were to get visas and other travelling documents, he confirmed that 74 students had been allowed entry into Poland and were staying in Warsaw, Krakovets and Katowice.

He added that two students had entered Romania while two more were in Hungary and one had arrived in Nairobi.

The fate of over 100 Ugandans working and studying in Ukraine remains a source of concern though the Ugandan government, through its ministry of foreign affairs, said it was making all efforts possible to ameliorate the plight of Ugandans in Ukraine.

The ministry also instructed the country’s missions in Berlin, Hungary and Moscow to keep in constant contact with the Ugandans in Ukraine until a workable solution is found.

Somalia on its part reveals that her citizens in the war afflicted country has been evacuate, according to a statement the country posted on micro-blogging site, Twitter.

Southern Africa

Zimbabwe has evacuated 118 students, mainly studying medicine, engineering and economics, from Ukraine. It was facilitated by the Zimbabwean embassy in Moscow, Russia, and the country’s mission in Berlin, Germany.

Zimbabwe’s minister of information, publicity and broadcasting services, Monica Mutsvangwa, told a briefing after a cabinet meeting that a total of 118 students have relocated to the following safer places: Romania, 28; Hungary, 15; Slovakia, 26 and Poland, 49.

The information, publicity and broadcasting services permanent secretary, Nick Mangwana, said in a tweet that once citizens arrive in any third country, the government will pay for their hotel stay and buy their repatriation flight tickets.

Meanwhile, Korrine Sky, a Zimbabwean second-year medical student in Dnipro, Ukraine, has created a WhatsApp group for African students studying in Ukraine to share information during the ongoing war.

According to Clayson Monyela, the spokesperson for the department of international relations, seven South African students have arrived safely in Poland, 15 in Hungary and four were being assisted to cross into Poland.

He revealed that there were two others in a town far from the conflict zones.

North Africa

North African countries Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Libya have put forward plans to transfer their nationals, mostly students, trapped in the conflict.

According to Ukraine’s ministry of education and science, as of 2020, Morocco is one of three African countries that make up nearly 20% of all foreign students in Ukraine.

Morocco, Nigeria and Egypt are in the top 10 list for countries whose students are studying in Ukraine, accounting for 8,000, 4,000 and 3,500 students respectively.

In a bid to stop child abuse in schools, the Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA) of Lagos State and the Office of Education Quality Assurance have commenced plans to implement the safeguarding and child protection programme.

The Executive Secretary of Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA), Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, disclosed this at a one-day sensitisation programme held recently at the Adeyemi-Bero Auditorium, Alausa, organised to educate Principals, Administrators and Heads of Schools on the Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy of the State Government.

In her welcome address, the Executive Secretary said apart from homes and communities, children also experience abuse and exploitation in organisations that provide them with support and services.

According to her, research has shown that physical, emotional abuse and neglect in child-focused organisations and institutions are less systematic and usually unplanned, adding that they stem from poor conditions, bad work practices, and negligent management.

Vivour-Adeniyi added that all child centered institutions must adopt and ensure full implementation of a Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy.

The school representatives and other participants present at the event were given the relevant tools required in ensuring they can effectively establish and implement the policy in their institutions.

Also speaking at the event, the Director-General, Office of Education Quality Assurance, Abiola Seriki-Ayeni, highlighted the need for schools to recognise the role they play in ensuring the wellbeing and safety of children, especially as children spend a significant time of their day in school.

She urged participants to take advantage of the free online course; “Introduction of Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy,” which she noted has been completed by over 10,000 educators.

Two Child Protection Experts and Facilitators at the event, Taiwo Akinlami and Modupeola Saheed-Adebambo, provided an overview of the Executive Order on Safeguarding and Child Protection programme.

Adebambo recommended certain critical measures schools should adopt in ensuring the safety of their students.

She listed the measures to include safer recruitment procedures, adopting a safeguarding policy, having a designated safeguarding officer, and establishing reporting, recording and feedback mechanisms.

The other child protection expert, Taiwo Akinlami, gave an insight into what child’s rights entail, societal and cultural perceptions of children, as well as norms and beliefs that encourage child abuse.

They dwelt on the issue of corporal punishment, while reminding participants of the State Government’s ‘No-Caning’ policy.

The new initiative may not be unconnected to the recent cases of alleged bullying, molestation, and physical assaults on young school children reported in some schools in the state.

According to the state, the programme will be implemented in all education districts.

Zimbabwe has evacuated 118 students from Ukraine to safer places following an ongoing military operation in that country and will provide them with air tickets for their return home.

This is according to Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa during a post-Cabinet briefing on Wednesday.

Zimbabwean embassies in Russia and Germany are facilitating the evacuation exercise in Ukraine after an outbreak of war with Moscow.

The Minister Mutsvangwa gave a breakdown of the 118 students who have been relocated to the following safer places; Romania 28, Hungary 15, Slovakia 26 and Poland 49.

She said a Mission official is currently based in Poland to assist those that need to be repatriated, adding that everyone will continue to be updated on the situation of students in Ukraine.

Last Saturday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade assured parents and stakeholders that the Government was engaged with the evacuation of its citizens from Ukraine.

All students in Ukraine were being urged to cross the border to neighbouring Poland where Government intervention was guaranteed there.

The Federal Government of Nigeria has commenced evacuation of 2,090 Nigerians stranded at neighbouring countries surrounding Ukraine.

Recall that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Godfrey Onyema, had said there were about 8,000 Nigerians in Ukraine, 5,000 of whom are students, adding that the Federal Government had tipped Air Peace and Max Air to airlift Nigerians, who wanted to be evacuated.

However, in a press statement by the permanent secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Gabriel Aduda, he said the chattered flights from Max Air and Air Peace will depart on Wednesday, March 2, 2022 to pick up Nigerian evacuees back home.

Ambassador Aduda said the records of evacuees received by Nigerian embassies show 650 persons from Hungary, 350 from Poland, 940 from Romania and 150 Nigerians from Slovakia.

He, however, stated that the first batch of evacuees is expected to arrive Nigeria on Thursday, March 3, 2022.

He said the capacity and route of the airlines are as follows: Max Air to Romania to airlift 560 persons, Airpeace to Poland for 364 persons and Airpeace to Hungary to evacuate 360 persons.

Aduda reassured Nigerians that government is working round the clock to see that Nigerian citizens are brought back home safely.