In furtherance of the Federal Government’s efforts to evacuate Nigerians fleeing the crisis in Sudan, the fourth batch of returnees numbering 834 arrived at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja today, 7th May, 2023.
A total of 410 Nigerian returnees were airlifted from Aswan, Egypt on Max Air, 322 persons on Azman Air while 102 Nigerian returnees were airlifted from Port Sudan on Tarco Aviation.
The returnees were received at the Airport by the representative of the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development (FMHADMSD), Dr. Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, who is the Chairman of the Situation Room on the Evacuation Exercise.
Others included the representative of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Francis Enya; Director General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Mustapha Habib; Commissioner, NCFRMI, Iman Suleiman; and the representative of the Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Mr. Abdul-Rahman Balogun; among other senior government officials.
According to a statement co-signed by Amb. Janet Olisa, Director Overseeing the Office of the Permanent Secretary, MFA and Dr. Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, Permanent Secretary, FMHADMSD, today’s batch of returnees airlifted from Aswan, Egypt is the last batch of Nigerian evacuees from the Algeen and Wadi Halfa border between Sudan and Egypt.
They further noted that having evacuated all the stranded Nigerians at the Sudan/Egypt border, all efforts will now be channeled to Port Sudan where about 1,400 Nigerians are awaiting evacuation.
“To this end, two (2) Air Peace aircrafts are in the final stage of obtaining clearance to join the Sudanese Tarco Aviation in airlifting the remaining stranded Nigerians in Port Sudan.
“The expectation, therefore, is that in the coming days, evacuation of all Nigerians fleeing the crisis in Sudan, including the 38 persons in Saudi Arabia, those in Ethiopia and Chad would have been concluded.
“It is worthy of note that in line with the Federal Government’s set priority of ensuring that no Nigerian national willing to return home is left behind in Sudan, there will be a mop up exercise, whereby aircrafts would be on standby to attend to any such cases.
“Following today’s exercise, a total number of 1,471 Nigerians have so far been successfully evacuated back home”, the statement concluded.
