National Wire About Nigerians, Nigerian Business and Other Stories
By: Okosun Dennis
Two airplanes belonging to the Nigerian Airforce and Air Peace conveying 376 stranded Nigerians arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on Wednesday night to the warm embrace of family members and Federal government representatives.
While Nigerian Airforce plane marked NAF 913 landed with 94 students evacuees, Air Peace had 282 passengers.
They were evacuated from Khartoum by road to Egypt where they were airlifted at the Aswan Airport to Abuja.
They were received by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar, who said they received the evacuated students in “peace and dignity” noting that “this is a national and humanitarian crisis.”
She thanked the Federal Government, Dangote Foundation and MTN and other individuals who made various donations to the evacuees.
She explained that Dangote Foundation was making a donation of N100,000 to each of the students to cushion their immediate needs and transportation while MTN gave N25,000 airtime each and 1.5 Gigabite of data.
Also present to receive the evacuees was the Sudanese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mohammed Yusuf. He expressed joy receiving the evacuated students but said that there is a proposal for seven days truce adding that the military will soon decapitate and take powers completely from the rebel group that have turned the country into crises.
The Director General, Nigerian Diaspora Commission, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa said anxiety is less now even though over 3,000 stranded persons are expected to be evacuated through Aswan Airport in Egypt enroute Nigeria.
One of the parents, Alhaja Asumahu Mohammed who was deeply elated with the evacuation noted that she has three children schooling in Sudan before the crisis erupted.
However, one of the Nigerians that assisted in coordinating the students in Khartoum while awaiting evacuation thanked the federal government and MEMA for making financial provision to get needed food before they left on Wednesday.
“We woke up to the sounds of gun. This is the first time we are experiencing this large scale violence and killings in the last 18 years I have lived in Sudan.”
War erupted in Sudan about two weeks ago between the government forces and rebel group leading to serious conflagration.
