The Air Peace flight from Egypt’s Aswan Airport carrying around 270 Nigerian students has landed at Abuja’s Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport. A short while later, the NAF C-130H aircraft that was carrying roughly 80 people also landed.
The Nigerian evacuees were finally evacuated home after more than a week of promises from the Federal Government, fleeing the horrific fighting in Sudan.
The Nigerian government gave worried residents evacuation plans assurances for almost two weeks before allowing buses to transport Nigerians out of Sudan with a Nigerian Air Force plane deployed for the operation.
The evacuees landed at the airport amid a strong security presence that largely consisted of Nigerian Air Force wingmen.
READ ALSO: Bus Evacuating Nigerians Out Of Sudan Catches Fire
The students were met at the airport by Sadiya Farouk, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Chairman/CEO of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), and Ahmed Mustapha, the Director General of the National Management Emergency Agency (NEMA).
To help them settle in, the returnees will receive N100,000 each, according to Farouk, who also said that a full press briefing on the evacuation’s problems had been arranged for later on Thursday.
The NEMA director added that four aircraft were anticipated to arrive on Thursday and would carry close to 400 people. He claims that Air Peace and Azman Air have both joined the evacuation attempt.
Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the chairman of NIDCOM, stated in a separate report on April 27 that approximately 7,000 nationals, including Nigerians, were stuck at the Egyptian border while travelling from Sudan.
She pleaded with Egypt to permit the already traumatised pan-African visitors to transit to their final destinations after revealing that the Egyptian authorities had not allowed the foreigners to cross the border from Sudan since their arrival on the evening of Thursday, April 27.
Later, she added that 13 buses carrying about 60 persons had departed Sudan after several Nigerians who had been stuck in Sudan had reached Egypt.
Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, the Permanent Secretary of the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry, provided a breakdown of the $1.2 million spent on the bus fares to evacuate the citizens last Sunday. He said that $30,000 was paid per bus and that 40 buses were purchased for the evacuation of Nigerian citizens stranded in Sudan.
He claimed that the bus proprietors requested full payment notwithstanding the fact that sending money to Sudan could only be done indirectly through middlemen.
Sani-Gwarzo stated that the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) were being included in the payment process. Sani-Gwarzo is also the chairman of the situation room for the evacuation of Nigerians from Sudan.
