The Federal Government was unable to airlift the first batch of Nigerians evacuated from Sudan on Friday as scheduled, it has been learnt.

The inability to airlift the evacuees was due to some issues bothering on administrative, logistics and diplomatic exigencies.

The Federal Government had announced on Thursday that the over 5,500 stranded Nigerian students would start arriving the country yesterday from Sudan.

Hundreds of people have been killed in nearly two weeks of conflict between the army and a rival paramilitary force – the RSF.

The first indication that the airlifting would not be possible emerged when the Egyptian authorities denied 7000 nationals including Nigerians the permission to cross the border into Egypt.

Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, (NIDCOM), revealed that over 7,000 nationals, including Nigerians were stranded at the Egyptian border, calling on those concerned with passages and movement of persons and services along contiguous borders of Sudan to create a humane condition for the 7,000 to have unfettered access to their various destinations.

Dabiri-Erewa said they were not allowed to cross the border into Egypt since their arrival late Thursday evening.

She added that the Nigerian mission in Egypt had been working tirelessly on this as the Egyptian authorities were insisting on visas by fellow Africans to transit back to their countries.

She appealed to the Egyptian authorities to kindly allow the already traumatised travellers to transit to their final destinations in various countries in Africa.

Though sources in the presidency said the issues were being sorted out.

One of the sources who spoke to The Nation in confidence said that the report from there is that it was no longer feasible for them to airlift them on Friday.

The source said after 14 hours on the road, the people might not be in the best condition to travel by air for another five hours straight.

Besides, the source said they also needed to be profiled before boarding and so all these would not make it possible for them to come in yesterday.

“They are not coming back today (yesterday) again, that I can assure you. They are not coming back today due to some administrative, logistics and diplomatic issues.

“These things are being sorted out. Don’t forget that they will not just start boarding immediately they arrive in Egypt from Sudan.

“They will have to be profiled before they would start boarding and this takes time.

“So, as far as I know, all these put together have made it impossible for them to arrive in the country today (Friday).”

Second phase of evacuation commences today – Nigerian Embassy

The second batch of evacuation of stranded Nigerians in Sudan will commence today, Embassy of Nigeria in Sudan has said.

The Charge d’ Affairs, H. Y. Garko disclosed this in a statement on Friday.

He said the designated meeting point would be Al-Razi University (Al-Azhari) and International University of Africa (madani street) in the morning.

He also said they should come light.

The statement read, “The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in Sudan, wishes to inform all Nigerian citizens who wish to be evacuated from the crisis in Sudan, that the Embassy will commence the second phase of evacuation to Egypt for onward airlift to Nigeria, tomorrow April 29, 2023.

“All those interested are expected to converge at Al-Razi University (Al-Azhari) and International University of Africa (Madani street) in the morning.

“Individuals are required to come alone with one bag only. Please adhere strictly.”

Saudi Arabia evacuates 10 Nigerians, 2,534 others

No fewer than 10 Nigerians were among the 2,544 evacuated by the Saudi Arabia government from Sudan.

In a statement issued in Abuja, on Friday, the Saudi Arabian Embassy said the Kingdom would continue to assist friendly nations in evacuating their nationals.

The statement reads: ”In continuation of the evacuation efforts being made by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under the directives of the Kingdom’s Leaderships, more evacuees continue to arrive Jeddah Port from the Republic of Sudan on Thursday, bringing the total number of evacuees from Sudan since the evacuations began at approximately 2,544 persons, 119 are Saudi citizens while 2,425 are from 74 countries among which 10 are from Nigeria.

“The Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been working to provide all the necessary basic needs of foreign nationals who have been evacuated, in preparation for facilitating their departures to their countries.

“Furthermore, the Kingdom would continue to assist in organising and coordinating the evacuation operations around the clock, to ensure the safe exit of civilians from all nationalities.

“The Kingdom, together with friendly countries, encourages the establishment of armistices and opening of humanitarian corridors, as well as protection of the civilians. The Kingdom will continue to make every possible effort, in order to stop the bloodshed, and to end the fighting, and return to the path of a political solution in Sudan.”

Meanwhile, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said 3,600 Nigerian students have so far been profiled for evacuation from Sudan to Egypt.

The agency, however, noted that the figure was likely to change since more people were still showing interest to return to Nigeria.

Reacting to the allegations that bus drivers conveying students stopped in the middle of nowhere due to monies owed them, the agency also assured that no driver or transport company would be shortchanged during the evacuation process.

The SA to the Director General of NEMA, Idris Mohammed stated these on Friday in a television interview monitored by The Nation.

Giving an update on the evacuation process, he said: “I want to appreciate Nigerians for their concern over the plight of our fellow citizens, especially the students caught up in the crisis in Sudan. It not a normal situation, it is an abnormal situation, it is a war going on, and therefore it is very challenging, very difficult and logistical nightmare but I want to assure you that NEMA, NIDCOM, the foreign affairs ministry through the Nigerian embassy here in Cairo where I am and the Nigerian Embassy in Sudan are working day and night. We don’t sleep, we are working to ensure that we have successfully brought back all Nigerians trapped in Sudan.

“13 buses are at the border between Sudan and Egypt, they are there awaiting the completion of clearance by the Sudanese authorities. Once these buses are cleared, they will start driving to Aswan where there is an airport for the airlift to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.”

On the number of those who have been profiled, Mohammed said: “ The information we have from our Embassy in Cairo is that 3,600 students have been profiled for evacuation through Egypt and out of these 3,600, a lot of them are already inside buses, some are at the border, some are in transit. (The Nation)