At least 350 Nigerians stranded in war-hit Sudan evacuated
Thursday May 04 2023
Some of the Nigerians evacuated from Sudan arrive at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on May 3, 2023. PHOTO | MOHAMMED MOMOH | NMG
At least 350 out of the 5,500 stranded Nigerians being evacuated from Sudan have landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.
Mostly students, the Nigerians were airlifted by a Nigerian private airline Air Peace from Egypt after they travelled by road from Khartoum and arrived home at 11.30 pm on Wednesday.
The evacuees arrived at the airport amid heavy security comprising mostly wingmen of the Nigerian Air Force.
The country’s top government officials including Nigeria’s Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Sadiya Farouk, Nidcom Chairman Abike Dabiri-Erewa and National Management Emergency Agency (Nema) Director-General Ahmed Mustapha were at the airport to receive the returnees.
After days of back and forth concerning the movement of citizens from Sudan to Egypt amidst diplomatic issues and especially visa procurement in Egypt, the evacuation went on smoothly.
Due to the closure of Sudanese airspace, the Nigeria’s government made arrangements for its citizens to be conveyed to Egypt by road from where they were to fly back home.
Documents hitch
However, there was a major setback when the Egyptian authorities denied them access over documentation issues.
The logjam continued for days until the Nigerian intelligence network struck a deal with their Egyptian counterparts.
Since April 15, Sudan has been plunged into internal armed conflict which has claimed hundreds of lives with critical infrastructure being destroyed.
The Nigerian government had assured concerned citizens of evacuation plans, ultimately facilitating 40 buses to convey Nigerians out of Sudan with a Nigerian Air Force plane deployed for the operation.
Farouk said the returnees would be given N100,000 ($150) each to enable them settle home.
Nigeria had deployed 40 luxury buses to take the evacuees to Egypt for airlifting to the West African country.
Delayed at border
The exercise was meant to start on April 26 with the movement of about 500 students but many of the Nigerians were held up at Egyptian borders due to diplomatic issues that have been finally resolved.
Nigeria’s Federal Executive Council (Fec) approved $1.2 million for the evacuation.
The country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama said that the amount would be spent on the hiring of luxury buses that would transport the stranded Nigerians from Sudanese capital Khartoum to Egypt, where they would be airlifted to Nigeria.