The first group of Nigerians stuck in Sudan reportedly landed in Egypt on Thursday evening.
Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), acknowledged this while reacting to a tweet.
According to her, the first batch of buses carrying citizens arrived late in Aswan after the border had already been closed, but they are due to leave early in the morning and head to the airport.
“The first set has arrived at Egypt’s Aswan border, but the border has already been closed.” “They will leave early in the morning and proceed to the airport,” Dabiri-Erewa explained.
According to reports, the NiDCOM chairman revealed this while responding to one [@owolabitaiwo] on the microblogging site who stated that there should have been no problem after such phony money was spent for this emergency evacuation.
“We can’t spend $1.2 million on buses for a simple drive-through and have abandonment cases all over the place.”
“It’s not head-off ooooh,” said the citizen.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Federal Government said that $1.2 million (approximately N560 million in Nigerian currency) had been spent to transport Nigerians stuck in Sudan to secure locations via road.
Giving an update on the evacuation process yesterday, Ambassador Zubairu Dada, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, told State House correspondents after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, that no Nigerian had died in the fighting between military factions in Sudan so far.
“We are confident that we will not lose any lives in this evacuation of stranded Nigerians,” Dada added.
According to Dada, the Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and staff from the Nigerian commissions in Egypt and Ethiopia are currently on the ground in Aswan, Egypt, to receive close to 40 luxury buses carrying Nigerians who had left the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, by road.
Speaking further, the Minister stated that the Saudi government had already supported in the evacuation of certain Nigerians via the sea, a development he praised on behalf of the federal government.
Speaking to journalists, Geoffrey Onyeama, Minister of Foreign Affairs, said the procedure began after the federal government overcame some hurdles, and that it would take a few days to evacuate stranded Nigerians.
He confirmed that $1.2 million had already been spent on the present endeavor to transport them by road. Onyeama stated that once they were securely transported to Egypt, new plans will be made to airlift them back to Nigeria.
Both Ministers stated that women and children will be prioritized over diplomats, who were also involved in the evacuation logistics.
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