Foreign Minister Says $1.2 Million Spent To Evacuate Nigerians From Sudan; No Life Lost

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama disclosed that Federal Government has sent 40 buses in order to evacuate at least 2,400 Nigerians in Sudan and this cost them $1.2 million.

Onyeama addressed the State House correspondents in Abuja on Wednesday after this week's Federal Executive Council meeting, Punch reported.

The Foreign Minister explained the high cost of sending these buses, noting that it provides an eight-hour journey's security cover from Luxol to Cairo alongside an 11-hour journey from Aswan to Cairo, Egypt.

During the meeting, the Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission admitted that Tuesday's evacuation plan didn't work out because of logistic challenges.

Former Member of the House of Representatives of Nigeria Abike Dabiri-Erewa, who serves as the Chairperson of the Commission, shared that the new travel plans were confirmed on Tuesday night.

"Last night, the Nigeria Evacuation team in Sudan received some buses to transport Nigerian Students to nearby borders in Egypt, before airlifting them to Nigeria, this has been sorted by the Federal Government through @nemanigeria and the Nigerian Embassy in Sudan," Dabiri-Erewa said, Vanguard reported. "More buses are arriving this morning and the stranded students will depart today."

She also shared photos of the Nigerian students trapped in Sudan standing in a queue to board the bus.

"As our students in Sudan queued up orderly to board their buses to Egypt en route to Nigeria, supervised by Nigerian mission officials in Sudan," she tweeted. "Let's remember them in our prayers as they journey home. War is a terrible thing !!"

Dabiri-Erewa shared another update, revealing that for the ease of students, they are being divided based on their states.

Aside from evacuation, the government also confirmed that no Nigerian has died in the war-torn Sudan.

The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Zuberu Dada, said that the evacuation is taking place in batches to ensure that all Nigerians remain safe.

"The good news is that no Nigerian life has been lost so far," he said during the meeting. "I think it's important to stress that all Nigerians are very safe. And we're very confident and hopeful that we shall not lose any Nigerian life Insha Allah shall in this exercise. All is well and we're good to go."

Earlier this week, the government said that they are working towards evacuating 5,500 Nigerians trapped in Sudan amid an ongoing battle between the Sudanese Army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

At that time, the government explained that it is not possible to directly go to Sudan and get Nigerians back. As a result, they planned to get the citizens via the Egyptian town of Luxor.

The announcement came after the fight between the Sudanese Army and RSF broke out on April 15. This internal fight in Sudan led to the death of more than 400 people and injured 3,500 more in just a week.

Not only Nigerians but nationals from South Africa, Syria, Canada, the United States, and Germany are also trapped due to ongoing battles.

Considering the conflict in Sudan, the World Health Organization shared on Wednesday that more than 60% of healthcare facilities in Khartoum, which is the capital of Sudan, have been shut.