Abuja, April 27, 2023 – The Federal Government says no Nigerian life has been lost in the Sudanese conflict since the war broke out on April 15.
Zuberu Dada, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, on Wednesday said evacuation process of Nigerians from Sudan had already started after an authorisation was secured from the Sudanese government to evacuate Nigerians to safety.
“The evacuation is being done in batches to ensure the safety of all Nigerians. But the good news is that no Nigerian life has been lost so far,” he said.
The minister said the government had also arranged for security support and transportation for evacuated Nigerians to the Egyptian border.
He said government was making efforts to evacuate as many Nigerians as possible during the 72-hour window provided by the Sudanese government.
Dada also disclosed that some Nigerians had already been evacuated by ship from the Port Sudan by the government of Saudi Arabia.
“Don’t forget that this is a joint effort. We have friendly nations that are ready to assist.
“Don’t forget that this is a joint effort. We have friendly nations that are ready to assist.
“Saudi authorities have been able to pick up some Nigerians, they’re transporting them by ship, I guess to Jeddah in particular.
“From where we’ll link up and find a way of bringing them back from Jeddah,” he said.
Geoffery Onyeama, the Foreign Affairs Minister, also said Nigerian diplomats were there to coordinate the evacuation.
He said women and children would be given priority.
Onyema said the Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Muhammadu Muhammed, was on ground in Egypt coordinating the logistics with embassy staff to ensure smooth evacuation process.
He said Nigeria had been charged $1.2 million for the 40 buses hired.
“We have huge 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 you know, Nigerian lives matters for us.” (GBN)
