First batch of Nigerians from Sudan arrive Abuja, get N100,000 for transport to families

The first batch of Nigerians fleeing the crisis in Sudan arrived Abuja late on Wednesday, May 3, and received N100,000 cash, each, for transportation to their various homes.

The batch comprised a total of 376 persons.

Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya Farouq, received the evacuees at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, in the early hours of Thursday, May 4.

Aside the N100,000 cash, the minister disclosed that the returnees also got N25,000 worth of recharge cards and 1.5 Gigabytes of data.

“No life was lost which is the most important thing. All the efforts put in place were not in vain. I thank every member of the committee that has put all efforts to ensure that these people are brought back safely and with dignity. We thank the transport companies for their support.

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“There is N100,000 that would transport them back to their families which is supported by the Dangote Foundation by giving them the transportation fare as well as the dignity kits and also 25,000 recharge cards from MTN and 1.5 GB data courtesy of MTN,” she said.

Farouq added that these were part of efforts being put in place to ensure that the returnees settle in comfortably.

Two aircrafts arrived the airport from Egypt around 11:35 pm on Wednesday, bringing in a total of 376 Nigerians.

According to Farouq, the Air Peace aircraft conveyed 282 persons while that of the Nigeria Air Force evacuated 94.

The evacuation process began on Wednesday, April 26, when stranded Nigerians embarked on the journey from Khartoum, the Sudan capital, to Egypt by road.

Efforts to airlift the Nigerians directly from Khartoum had been frustrated by the crisis, as the warring parties failed to heed early calls for a ceasefire.

The students arrived at the Egyptian border on Thursday, April 27, hoping to proceed to the Aswan airport, from where they would be airlifted to Nigeria.

However, they were denied access to the country for several days by the Egyptian authorities, who demanded visa processing fees before the borders could be opened.

Egypt eventually opened its border to the stranded citizens with stringent conditions attached, following the intervention of Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari.