$1.2m not sufficient to evacuate Nigerians from Sudan by road – FG
The federal government has revealed that the sum of $1.2m would not be sufficient for the evacuation of Nigerians from Sudan via road.
This was revealed by the permanent secretary of the federal ministry of humanitarian affairs, Dr. Sani Gwarzo.
Gwarzo said the sum of $30,000 was expended on each of the buses hired for the assignment.
He said the federal government had got 31 buses to supplement the buses already on ground for emergencies.
“We have given the bus company our word that under no circumstances shall they leave anybody on ground; even if it is one more person that is remaining let them activate our reserve list and bring out the new buses.”
“And I spoke to the student leader and the Embassy in this regard, so we are expecting each bus will carry 49 persons and if you calculate this number times 31 buses it will give you the number of persons to be evacuated today.
“Do you know how much it takes to hire a bus from Khartoum to the border?, is 30,000 dollars per bus and you times it by 40 buses, that is where 1.2 million dollars comes into.
“So, we transfer the first tranche of the money approved by federal government, which is 400,000 dollars, to them as deposit if you take our 400,000 dollars what does it come to you is 1/3 of the total sum.
“So, they gave us 13 buses times 30,000 dollars it will give us 390,000 dollars believing that will continue with the evacuation, but they stopped giving us buses that our money has expired.
“But, they kept the remaining 10,000 dollars and told us that our money has finished untill we complete the remaining balance because we are meant to understand in Sudan there is nothing like you deposit money until assignment is done before you complete the remaining balance.
“We started transferring the remaining balance in tranches and believe me you don’t transfer money to Sudan directly, you have to get somebody who knows the company who will transfer and give them cash then go into agreement.
“And the transport company threatened that they will not move on with the evacuation process and whoever thinks that 1.2 million dollars will be enough to move people from Khartoum to the border and airlift them to Nigeria is being economical with the truth,” he said.
He said the federal government had engaged the service of the transport company to enable due process in the transmission of funds.
“We signed an MoU with them and at every stage we report this to DSS and NFIU so that they can monitor the movement of the money.
”And the company too should know that in Nigeria if you transfer money from government account, it does not go direct because it has a dashboard that it can be seen.
“We had to alert the DSS and NFIU before we send this money, though in the process the money got delayed by the Central Bank System and this is what they call swift electronic cash transfer system, it got delayed,” he said.
He told the media to be subject in their reportage as the safety of the evacuees and the emotions of their relations are at stake.
Nigerian Airforce ready to bring Nigerian students home, but Egypt’s border not opened — FG
The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) has said that the Egyptian border is not yet open to ensure the rescue of the stranded Nigerians from Sudan.
Three Nigerian Air Force C-130 aircraft have been mobilised to Sudan by the Nigerian government to evacuate its stranded citizens who are currently at the Egyptian border.
“NAF C 130 prepares to depart to Egypt to evacuate Nigerian Nationals stranded in Sudan,” NIDCOM had tweeted.
“They are going with a lot of dry food, water, medications, etc. Our prayers are with them.”
The popular Nigerian airline, Air Peace is also on ground to complement the effort of the federal government.
A source revealed that: “The plane landed a few hours ago at Aswan. The first set of evacuees will depart today.”
The Informant247 earlier reported that the Nigerian government had vowed to evacuate its stranded citizens from the war torn zone.
It was gathered that the Egyptian government did not agree to allowing Nigerians into their country despite persuasion.
The Nigerian government is doing everything possible to ensure that her citizens are allowed into Egypt where they will be transported home by air.
It was also gathered that Nigerian citizens who left the Sudan’s capital city, Khartoum on Wednesday were reportedly roaming aimlessly at the border between Sudan and Egypt.
“We have been here for four days now, no food, no water. The government should come to our rescue”, says one of the affected Nigerians.
NIDCOM in a Twitter post on Monday May 1, 2023 said the Egyptian border was still closed, and the stranded students had not got entry to Egypt.
“We will not leave without our students,” NIDCOM quoted NAF.
FG plans to evacuate Nigerian students in Sudan amid violent clashes
The federal government has announced its readiness to evacuate Nigerian citizens from Sudan following a clash between Sudan’s soldiers and a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
This was revealed by the chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa who said the federal government was still making consultations with concerned stakeholders to ensure easy evacuation of its citizens from Sudan.
The Informant247 gathered that the violence has taken lives of over 270 persons.
The violent clash has made thousands of civilians moved to Khartoum, the capital of Sudan.
The Informant247 learned that foreign countries are considering the evacuation of their nationals as the crisis was running to the sixth day.
Dabiri-Erewa said she has taken note of the concern of Nigerian students who are living in Sudan.
She added that her Commission has gotten “the letter of solocitation” from the National Association of Nigerian Students in Sudan to ensure the evacuation of students in the foreign African country especially those living the capital city, Khartoum.
She implored Nigerian students residing in Sudan to be conscious of their safety and security.
