The Federal Government has said all Nigerians fleeing the insurrection in Sudan but got stranded at the Egypt border have been airlifted and brought back to Nigeria.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, stated this when he received another batch of Nigerian evacuees at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja on Sunday.
A total of 834 Nigerian evacuees from Egypt and Port Sudan arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja on Sunday, bringing to 1,471 the number of Nigerians so far evacuated and brought back to Nigeria from Egypt and Port Sudan in five days.
The first batch, comprising 282 evacuees, arrived on Wednesday night from Egypt via an Air Peace flight.
The second batch, comprising 94 evacuees, arrived on Wednesday night from Egypt via CI30; while the third batch, comprising 130 evacuees, arrived on Friday from Port Sudan via Tarco Air.
The fourth batch, comprising 131 evacuees, arrived on Saturday from Port Sudan via Tarco Air; while the fifth, sixth and seventh batches of 876 evacuees arrived Sunday from Egypt and Port Sudan via Max Air (410 evacuees), Azman Air (324); and Tarco Air (102).
According to Sani-Gwarzo, no Nigerian is left at the Egypt border, as all Nigerians at that point had been evacuated.
Sani-Gwarzo said, “I am very happy to announce that no single Nigerian is currently at the Egyptian border, we have completed the airlift from the Egyptian side.”
He noted that those in Port Sudan would all be evacuated in a few days.
The PS noted, “The Port Sudan side will be completed in the next few days, probably in the next 48 hours.”
He said arrangements had also been put in place to evacuate the Nigerians who fled Sudan to the Ethiopian and Saudi-Arabian borders, back to the country.
Narrating his ordeal, a final-year student of medicine at the Sudan International University, Abdul-Nasiru Suleiman, said “It was a very stressful journey and we faced a lot of difficulties because I have never experienced such things before in my life. There was no food or water on the way, but with the help of embassy officials when we got to the Egypt border, they provided us with food and water.
“Before we got to the Wadi Halfa border from Khartoum, the journey was two days. We had a lot of terrible experiences such as sleeping on the bus, no food because I was out of money.
“However, our driver was nice. He bought some food which sustained us. Getting to the border, the Egyptians were very strict. They treated us anyhow. I was not comfortable with the way we were treated. I pray that peace is restored in Sudan because I want to go back.”
Meanwhile, the pan-northern socio-political organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum, has commended Air Peace CEO, Allen Onyema; Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote; and MTN for their efforts towards the evacuation of stranded Nigerians.
This was contained in a statement by the National Chairman of the ACF, Chief Audu Ogbeh, on Sunday.
Ogbeh, a former Minister of Agriculture, said, “We are particularly grateful and appreciative of the support given by some very patriotic Nigerians. In particular, we want to thank Mr Allen Onyema and Aliko Dangote for the personal support they gave to the stranded Nigerians.
“One person who stands out in this demonstration of patriotism is Mr Allen Onyema of Air Peace.
“We notice that some years ago when some Nigerians were expelled from South Africa, he sent several flights to South Africa to bring them back at his own cost. He has equally sent our national football team out a number of times to enable them to participate in tournaments and this time from Sudan he deployed a whole Boeing 777 aircraft, including the fueling, overflight duties, landing fees, international flight charges and other costs in order to rescue Nigerians caught up in Sudan.
“We want to thank him for this remarkable and consistent show of patriotism, we are deeply touched, and we pray that the Almighty God will reward him adequately.
“Aliko’s N100,000 to each of them, and MTN’s recharge credit of N25,000 each are extremely remarkable gestures of good-heartedness and patriotism. Only God Almighty will reward them for these efforts.”
-Punch
