Fed Govt spends $1.2m to evaluate stranded Nigerians from Sudan

Nigerians in Sudan

By Favour Ajibade

Federal government has procured 40 buses at the cost of $1.2 billion to evaluate stranded Nigerians out of  war torn Sudan, Nigeria's  Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama has said.

He spoke at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in Abuja, adding that women, children, and diplomats will be given priority in  during the exercise. 

According to him, talks have been concluded with the Sudanese government to enable the evacuees to be moved to Cairo, Egypt.

He said the cost of evacuating  included security cover for the eight-hour journey from Luxol to Cairo and the eleven-hour trip from Aswan to Cairo, Egypt, adding that no Nigerian lost his life  the in the conflict. 

Onyeama also noted that there are no talks about alternative plans for continued education for the about 2,400 student evacuees, most of whom are in the University of Khartoum.

He explained: “With regards to the evacuation of Nigerians in Sudan, you’ll recall that the main challenge we had was securing some permission, first of all, authorization of the Sudanese government and then, you know, some security support for the convoy because it’s been decided that we will transport or convey the Nigerians to the Egyptian border Aswan.

“So, that’s what we decided. We are liaising with our embassy in Egypt as well. So we’ve been able to overcome several challenges and have started the process which we’re very happy about. We secured a significant number of luxurious buses because the distances are quite considerable. We started the process and it will take, you know, maybe a couple of days to evacuate everybody.”

 As regards the gender question, I think that’s something we will have to look into in a bit more detail, but I think ordinarily, it will be appropriate that women and children should be given priority I think that goes without saying.

”On the cost of evacuating Nigerians from Sudan, Onyeama said: “$1.2 million is what the country is being charged for all the 40 buses. We have transporter luxury buses made available to us to transport to the Egyptian border. Of course, you know, because of the risks involved and so many other things, a lot of people are going to also take advantage, you’re going to hike up the price. We saw that the French convoy was attacked and so forth. It was difficult procuring these buses. But we had to do it because Nigerian lives matter to us.”“

As regards the gender question, I think that’s something we will have to look into in a bit more detail, but I think ordinarily, it will be appropriate that women and children should be given priority I think that goes without saying.”

On how much it was costing the Nigerian government, Onyeama said: “$1.2 million is what we’re being charged for all the 40 buses. We have transporter luxury buses made available to us to transport to the Egyptian border. Of course, you know, because of the risks involved and so many other things, a lot of people are going to also take advantage, you’re going to hike up the price. We saw that the French convoy was attacked and so forth. It was difficult procuring these buses. But we had to do it because Nigerian lives matter to us.”