FG Spends $1.2m to Evacuate Stranded Nigerians in Sudan to Cairo

The Federal Government, Wednesday, announced that it had spent $1.2 million to send 40 buses to evacuate nearly 2,400 trapped Nigerians from Sudan.

After the Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting held in the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa in Abuja and presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, Minister of Foreign Affairs, said this while briefing State House media.

According to the Minister, the cost of the evacuation includes the provision of security coverage for the eleven-hour flight from Aswan, Egypt, to Cairo, Egypt, as well as the eight-hour flight from Luxol to Cairo.

He claimed that the Nigerian government’s plans to safely remove its residents from the civil war-torn Sudan dominated the council meeting’s proceedings.

Despite their agreement to end hostilities at midnight on Monday, the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces reportedly resumed fighting on Wednesday, even as a hospital was being bombarded.

Onyeama, who observed that no Nigerians perished in the violence, claimed that there have been no discussions regarding alternate arrangements for the evacuees, most of whom are the University of Khartoum students, to continue their education.

Recall that about 40 buses were sent to move Nigerians out of Khartoum and other troubled parts of Sudan early Wednesday.

The Nigerian Diaspora Commission had explained that the evacuation planned for Tuesday failed due to logistic challenges.

Chairperson of the Commission, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, confirmed that the new travel plans were finalized Tuesday night.

She tweeted “Last night, the Nigeria Evacuation team in Sudan received some buses to transport Nigerian Students to nearby borders in Egypt, before airlifting them to Nigeria, this has been sorted by Federal Government through @nemanigeria and the Nigerian Embassy in Sudan.

“More buses are arriving this morning and the stranded students will depart today.”