Abike Dabiri-Erewa, chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), says an Air Peace aircraft has landed in Egypt to airlift stranded Nigerian students in the war torn Sudan to Nigeria
Dabiri-Erewa, who made the announcement in a tweet on Tuesday evening, said the aircraft would take students who had been given clearance to move into the north African country.
“Sudan update: Nig Embassy in Egypt has moved all evacuees from the Sudan side to the Egypt side of the Arqeel border, with priority given to the females,” the NIDCOM chair tweeted.
“They are now being prepared for their departure to Abuja through Aswan Airport.@flyairpeace has just landed. Big gratitude to the Nigerian Embassy in Egypt for their tireless efforts.”
Allen Onyema, the chairman of Air Peace, had offered to use the airline to evacuate Nigerians stranded in Sudan for free.
The aviation mogul had said if Nigerians in the North-east African region could be moved to a neighbouring country, the airline would fly there and evacuate them, as Sudan’s airspace is closed for civil aviation flights.
As part of joint rescue efforts, the Nigeria Air Force (NAF) evacuation team left for Aswan Airport in Egypt on April 29 to also airlift the stranded Nigerians.
TheCable reported how citizens evacuated from the crisis had been stranded at the Egyptian border following visa issues.
In a turn of events on Monday, Dabiri-Erewa said the border was opened after President Muhammadu Buhari spoke with Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the Egyptian president.
The first set of evacuated Nigerians were initially expected to arrive in the country on Friday.