Sudan Crisis: Government To Pay Visa Fees Of Evacuated Nigerians Stranded At Egyptian Border

The federal government is reportedly working towards paying the visa fees of Nigerians, who are now at the Egypt border after being evacuated from Sudan amid the ongoing conflict.

Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the chairperson of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, said even though the federal government had requested the relevant authorities to make sure their citizens trapped in Sudan can easily access various destinations, the evacuees were stopped at the Egypt border.

"The mission has made arrangements to pay nine dollars per person and 25 dollars visa fees. Within Egypt itself, one cannot travel from one region to another without an exit permit," she said, Punch reported on Sunday. "We are expecting a CI30 to take off within the hour. NAF is getting set to depart with food etc for Aswan."

President Muhammadu Buhari, on the other hand, is formally seeking the help of his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, to ensure that the stranded Nigerian citizens will get clearance and be airlifted home.

Permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management & Social Development, Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, confirmed the same during a press briefing held in Abuja on Sunday.

"We have been able to move 637 out of Khartoum directly by Federal Government to the Port of Aswan or its axis in various locations at that place," he said, Tribune Online reported.

"We have people that have arrived at the border of Sudan called Gwadi Alfa, we have people that have arrived Nigerian Embassy in Cairo in Egypt has made arrangements to receive these 637 out of which they were able to clear 420 but the Egyptian authorities are not so far clear them to move into Egypt."

He further confirmed that per Nigerian, the government paid $8 at the Sudan border exit and $25 for entering the Egypt border.

Sani-Gwarzo explained that the border arrangements in those locations were different from the ones in West Africa, noting that each person requires a visa, pays at the exit of one country, and then again at the entry of another.

"What the Sudanese border is asking Nigerians to pay is equivalent to $8 for the exit, and equivalent for the Egyptian is asking per evacuated citizen is $25," he added. "It's not the money that matters, it's the permission."

Foreign Affairs Minister Geoffrey Onyeama disclosed last week that the government has spent $1.2 million to evacuate at least 2,400 Nigerians in Sudan, considering they had to arrange for 40 buses.

The minister explained the high cost of sending these buses, saying it will provide security for the eight-hour journey from Luxor to Cairo, alongside an 11-hour journey from Aswan to Cairo, Egypt.

The government said last week that they were working towards evacuating 5,500 Nigerians trapped in Sudan amid an ongoing battle between the Sudanese Army and Rapid Support Forces.