Africans Fleeing Ukraine Can Only Withdraw $30 Per Day– Trapped Nigerian Student Cries Out

Eniola Adebajo, a Nigerian student living in Lviv, Ukraine is trapped and wants to leave the country but the conditions are though, she said in an emotional interview.

Adebajo is one of the several Nigerians and Africans trapped in the Ukraine conflict and trying to escape to Poland.

Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in the early hours of Thursday.

The European Union and the United States of America have responded with a deluge of sanctions which are yet to stop Russia’s aggression.

The conflict has entered its fifth day and hundreds of lives have already been lost.

Africans are not just stranded in Ukraine, but also facing racial discrimination, according to several reports.

“The situation is very terrible right now because people have been there for days and the weather is currently -2 °C in Lviv. Some people have been outside without shelter, food and water,” Adebajo said in an interview with Channels TV on Monday.

“The Ukraine guards at the border are not letting male foreigners pass and if you can’t pass the Ukrainian border, you can’t even access those other countries, that is the problem.”

Adebajo did not make any move to leave Lviv early enough, because her school made it difficult for students to leave until Friday last week.

“We only got an instruction (from school) to leave just this Friday,” she revealed.

She said the economic and health hardship they are facing are very severe.

Adebajo said, “In terms of money, people are stranded too. For example, I use my dad’s card to withdraw and right now, the withdrawal limit for me is $30 per day.

“I can’t withdraw more than $30, so it is really terrible even if I need money, because there are options of getting a toll bus, but it’s really expensive and toll bus prices are ranging now from $100 and above.

“People don’t even have money. You can’t withdraw more than $30 from the ATM if you are using a foreign card. It is really bad.”

She wants to leave Lviv, a Ukrainian state she said was relatively calm to nearby Poland, but it’s getting harder than they thought.

The distance from Lviv to Kiev is 549.2km or 7hrs 17 minutes and from LViv to the border is around 8h 19m via train and a distance of 80km.

The cost from moving to the border was around $16, $25 or $33 on a bus or train before the crisis.

She said, “I’m planning on using a tollbus. It is really expensive. The prices are doubling every minute. I have gotten my toll bus ticket. I’m to leave tomorrow (March 1, 2022) if all things go well.

“It is really long, I know a friend that started this journey on Thursday and got to the border, I think on Friday evening or so.”

She acknowledged that the Nigerian Government has reached out to the border countries, but the major problem is finding a way to leave Ukraine.

“Right now we just need them to appeal to the Ukrainian Government, we don’t know how they will do it. But we just need them to let us go. Yes information has been passed to the receiving countries, but right now, if you can’t leave Ukraine, it is not going to show that they are making an effort,” Adebajo lamented.