Sudan Crisis: FG spent $1.2m to evacuate stranded Nigerian students

The Federal Government has said that it has expended $1.2 million to deploy 40 buses to evacuate at least 2,400 stranded Nigerians out of Sudan.

This was made known by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, while speaking with State House correspondents shortly after the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by the President Muhammadu Buhari at the Council Chambers of Aso Rock Villa, Abuja on Wednesday.

At least 40 buses were sent to move Nigerians out of Khartoum and other troubled parts of Sudan early Wednesday. The minister noted that the high cost of the evacuation was to provide security cover for the eight-hour journey from Luxol to Cairo and the eleven-hour trip from Aswan to Cairo, Egypt.

Although the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces agreed to halt hostilities at midnight Monday, local media reported that fighting had resumed even as a hospital was shelled on Wednesday.

Read also: Seven killed, 23 injured in Sudan’s fresh violence

The minister also noted that no Nigerian lost their lives in the conflict, Onyeama said there were no talks about alternative plans for continued education for the evacuees, most of whom are students of the University of Khartoum.

The Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission explained that the evacuation planned for Tuesday failed due to logistic challenges.

Chairperson of the Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, confirmed that the new travel plans were finalised Tuesday night.

She tweeted, “Last night, the Nigeria Evacuation team in Sudan received some buses to transport Nigerian Students to nearby borders in Egypt, before airlifting them to Nigeria, this has been sorted by the Federal Government through @nemanigeria and the Nigerian Embassy in Sudan.

“More buses are arriving this morning and the stranded students will depart today.”