The first group of Nigerians to be evacuated from crisis-ridden Sudan is expected to arrive Friday, according to information released by the federal government on Thursday.
The government’s endeavor to repatriate Nigerian citizens left trapped in the war-torn country, according to Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), included the evacuation process.
According to her, ““As I speak to you, we’re expecting about 1,500 Nigerians.
“And also, Air Peace will be leaving tonight (Thursday night) from Nigeria to pick them up from Egypt and bring them back safely to Nigeria by tomorrow (Friday).”
According to Dabiri-Erewa, there are about three million Nigerians living in Sudan. If the war continues, attempts are being made to evacuate as many Nigerians as possible from Sudan, with a focus being placed on children, students, and women.
She claimed that given how many Nigerians reside in other African nations, including Sudan, it was time for Nigeria to pay closer attention to them. As she proposed that NEMA establish Rapid response Squads in every region of the nation and abroad to help deal with unforeseen circumstances, she also mentioned that challenges related to the evacuation process were already being addressed.
“I think that moving on, it is very important for NEMA to have Rapid Response Squads with military formations in all parts of Nigeria and then in the diaspora with military attaches. There really has to be those teams set in place. It shouldn’t be when the crisis happens we start running around,” the NIDCOM boss said further.
Earlier on Thursday, buses said to be conveying Nigerian students and non-students out of Sudan, an African nation currently at war, had abruptly stopped in the middle of nowhere.
The Federal Government made arrangements for Nigerians who reside in Sudan to be evacuated out of the country due to the war outbreak amongst military forces. The arrangement was made by the government on Wednesday where they claimed to have spent $1.2 million for luxurious buses under the National Emergency Management Agency of Nigeria, to convey the people on an eighteen hour journey to Cairo, Egypt where they would be boarded into planes.
However, in a circulating video later, claims were made by some of the travellers that the buses had stopped in the middle of nowhere and some in unknown locations, and they had no information on what was happening.
It was later said that the buses had stopped somewhere in the middle of the Sahara Desert.
Several videos were released of Nigerians all complaining of being stranded in unknown locations due to bus drivers refusal to continue with the journey unless they are paid.
They pleaded for government intervention for something to be done.
Dabiri-Erewa, came on the Twitter platform to assure that the situation has been handled and the journey has been resumed.
Glamour Adah
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