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Nigerian students who have been evacuated from Sudan will no longer arrive in Nigeria on Friday as previously announced by the government, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report.
Sources from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nigerian Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) who do not have authorization to speak to the media told this newspaper that the evacuees would not return for logistical and diplomatic reasons.
According to the ministry source, “As of 07:00 a.m. on April 28, 2023, nine buses arrived at the Sudanese side of the Arkin border, and four buses also arrived at the Wadi Halfa border. They are waiting for authorization from the Sudanese end to cross over to the Egyptian side.
“The Wadi Halfa border is the one approved for our people, and this was communicated to our Mission in Khartoum. However, the fact that some of the drivers chose to go to another border post (about 200 km) away from the approved point of entry, we have created another team to go there and help.”
The source added that there are thousands of people at the borders and as such there will be delays in the entry of Nigerians into Egypt.
In a similar vein, the NiDCOM source noted that there are “not-so-serious” diplomatic problems at the border and that the Nigerian embassy in Egypt is trying to get diplomatic cover for the students.
“It seems that Egypt wants students to be profiled,” he told PREMIUM TIMES.
In another development, NiDCOM in a statement signed by Gabriel Odu said more than 7,000 people, including Nigerians, fleeing Sudan have been denied access to Egypt since their arrival on Thursday night.
According to the statement, NiDCOM chief Abike Dabiri-Erewa called on those concerned with tickets and the movement of people and services along Sudan’s contiguous borders to create a humane condition to allow access. Without restrictions.
“He added that the Nigerian mission in Egypt has been working tirelessly on this as the Egyptian authorities insist on obtaining visas for African compatriots to transit back to their countries,” Odu said.
Neither source could say for sure when the challenges would be resolved and when the Nigerians would return to their country.
However, the agencies involved expressed their willingness to airlift the Nigerian evacuees immediately upon their arrival in Sudan.
NiDCOM and NEMA at different times announced that some 1,600 Nigerian evacuees from Sudan were expected to arrive in Abuja on Friday.
Officially, some 5,500 Nigerian students are expected to arrive from Sudan in the evacuation that began on Wednesday.
According to NEMA, 13 buses transported the first batch of evacuees from Khartoum in Sudan to Egypt from where they will be airlifted to Nigeria.
Nigeria has contracted a total of 40 buses for the evacuation.