By NewsBits
The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) chairman, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has said that Nigerian students have commenced queueing up to board buses for evacuation out of Sudan.
Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa disclosed this in a post via her verified Twitter handle on Wednesday. The development is coming amidst fears for nationals, especially students, trapped by the war in Sudan.
She wrote, “As our students in Sudan queued up orderly to board their buses to Egypt enroute to Nigeria, supervised by Nigerian mission officials in Sudan. Let’s remember them in our prayers as they journey home. War is a terrible thing!”
NewsBits recalls that the Federal Government said it would today commence the evacuation of about 5,500 Nigerians, including students, stranded in Khartoum and other cities in Sudan. The government announced that it had released N150 million for hiring 40 buses to convey its citizens from Sudan to Cairo in Egypt. The money was said to have been paid into the account of an undisclosed big time transport company.
It was also learnt on Monday that trapped Nigerian students would leave Khartoum, Sudan capital, on Tuesday morning, for Cairo, Egypt, by road. It was learnt that the journey from Khartoum to Cairo by road would take about 28 hours 27 minutes.
It would be recalled that the Federal Government said it was making preparations to evacuate about 5,500 stranded Nigerians out of Sudan through the Egyptian town of Luxor, adding that it was seeking Egypt’s support so that the stranded Nigerians could be moved to Luxor.
However, in a letter dated 23 April 2023, signed by the Charge D’ Affairs, Haruna Garko, and sighted by our correspondent on Monday, the Embassy of Nigeria in Sudan made a request for buses to convey students from Khartoum to Cairo on Tuesday at 6am.
The letter read: “I am directed to request the services of your 200-seater buses to convey 3,500 Nigerian students from Khartoum to Cairo Egypt on 25 April 2023, at 6am.”
Confirming this development, a student of the International University of Africa, Abdullah Zakari, said, “Tomorrow (Tuesday), we are going to leave for Egypt by 6am. We will go by road. It is a long journey though.”
Also, the President of the Jigawa State Students Association in Sudan, Umar Abubakar, said, “All preparations from Khartoum have been put in place and by God’s grace, we will leave tomorrow morning.”
A student of Noble College in Sudan, who pleaded anonymity, said, “The buses to convey the students are on the ground. All students would be evacuated by tomorrow morning to Cairo.”
Source: The Punch
