By Mathew David
The Federal Government revealed that it has spent $1.2 million to deploy 40 buses for the evacuation of about 2,400 stranded Nigerians out of Sudan due to the crises.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, divulged this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Onyeama said that the amount for the evacuation includes the provision of security cover for the eight-hour journey from Luxol to Cairo and the eleven-hour trip from Aswan to Cairo, Egypt.
He said that the outcome of the proceedings of the council meeting was overshadowed by plans of the Nigerian government to safely evacuate its citizens from the war-torn Susann.
Although the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces agreed to halt hostilities at midnight Monday, local media reports that fighting had resumed even as a hospital was shelled on Wednesday.
Onyeama, who noted that no Nigerian lost their lives in the conflict, said there are no talks about alternative plans for continued education for the evacuees, most of whom are students of the University of Khartoum.
Recall that about 40 buses were sent to move Nigerians out of Khartoum and other troubled parts of Sudan early Wednesday.
The Nigerian Diaspora Commission had explained that the evacuation planned for Tuesday failed due to logistic challenges.
Chairperson of the Commission, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, confirmed that the new travel plans were finalized Tuesday night.
She tweeted “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 Federal Government through @nemanigeria and the Nigerian Embassy in Sudan.
“More buses are arriving this morning and the stranded students will depart today.”