Sudan crisis: Evacuated Nigerians will arrive on today — FG

By Ibiyemi Mathew

The federal government (FG) of Nigeria has revealed that the first batch of stranded Nigerians in Sudan evacuated by the FG will arrive Abuja, Nigeria on Friday (today) barring any unforeseen circumstances.

This was disclosed at a State House briefing by Hon. AbikeDabiri-Erewa, Chairman/ CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) in Abuja on Thursday.

She said a total of 13 out of the 40 buses hired to transport Nigerians from the troubled Sudan already left since Wednesday and moved by road to border town of Aswan in Egypt where both the Embassy staff in Egypt and the DG NEMA will receive the evacuees.

She said 10 of those buses transported Nigerians from Universities in Khartoum while the remaining three buses were dispatched to El-Razi University to convey them to the border town in Egypt.

On allegations of segregation and discrimination in the evacuation process, she explained that children and women were given priority as they were profiled for administrative purposes.

The NIDCOM boss said a Boeing 777 from Air Peace will depart Lagos by evening of Thursday and will transport the first batch home on Friday.

She assured all Nigerians that all those who registered to be evacuated home will all be facilitated irrespective of status, gender and state.

Dabiri-Erewa clarified that besides the huge population of Nigeria students in Sudan, there were millions of other Nigerians in the country doing their legitimate business and residing there peacefully.

She allayed the fears of being attacked by the warlords, saying the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr Geoffrey Onyeama already secured the understanding of the two warlords before the transportation of Nigerians by road.