The popular Nigeria’s airline, Air Peace has declared its readiness to assist stranded Nigerians who are in Sudan amidst the crisis in the North African country.
The reputable airline revealed that it would evacuate the citizens of Nigeria who are stranded in Sudan without collecting any money.
This kind gesture was revealed by the Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema.
The CEO of the airline said Nigerian students and other persons who are stranded in Sudan have urgent “needs for help.”
The chairman of the airline said if Nigerian citizens in Sudan can be transported to a nearby country to Sudan, his airline would evacuate them.
He disclosed that the Sudan’s airspace has been closed for civil aviation flights.
The Informant247 recalls that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama had said the evacuation of stranded Nigerians from Sudan would begin tomorrow, Tuesday April 25.
Report has it that over 5,000 Nigerians mostly students were reportedly stranded in Sudan.
The chairman of the airline said the people are not expected to leave all matters in the hand of government alone, especially a situation of emergency as this.
“Again, Air Peace is willing to evacuate Nigerians stranded in Sudan free of charge if government can get them to a safe and secure airport in any of the neighbouring countries bordering Sudan. Everything must not be left for government and government alone. It will be a privilege and honour of tremendous pride that we will be out there to give every Nigerian stranded in Sudan a sense of pride and oneness in their country.
“We are very ready to do it immediately. No time wasting. Any action that would promote national pride, national cohesion, peace and unity, we are for it. Again, we have no apologies for believing in our nation and loving the nation despite certain national challenges.
“If they are moved to Kenya or Uganda or any other country, we will move in to get them out. Some parents have started calling on us to help. We are ready to do this again and again,” he said.
The Informant247 recalls that chairman of the airline extended similar gesture in 2019 when he evacuated Nigerians from South Africa during the xenophobic attack.
We’ll evacuate stranded Nigerians from Sudan by road — FG
The federal government has revealed that stranded Nigerians in Sudan will be evacuated by road.
The Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs minister, Geoffrey Onyeama made this revelation while granting a television interview.
He said it was not possible to evacuate large number of people through aircraft, therefore the federal government has resolved to evacuate them by road.
“We have been given the cost estimate and all the details. They gave us a figure of 5,500 who are ready for evacuation. Obviously, what you need in a situation like this is a place where everybody can congregate before you start moving them out. Because the airports, as you pointed out in your report, it is out of commission. The only viable way out is by road.
“But of course, it is not totally safe so you are going to require the government to provide some security and a safe corridor out”, he said.
He added that “Our situation is particularly challenging because the numbers are so great. Some the countries like the US and European countries have started evacuating. But what they’ve been evacuating were actually their diplomatic staff.”
“They haven’t been able to start evacuating their citizens there. We can’t evacuate all our diplomatic staff at the moment because they need to also coordinate the evacuation of all those students that we’re talking about”, Geoffrey Onyeama added.
The federal government had earlier announced its readiness to evacuate Nigerian citizens from Sudan following a clash between Sudanese 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.
