Somto Bisina
Buses evacuating Nigerian students from war-torn Sudan were stopped in the middle of the Sahara desert as the transporters insisted on completing their payment.
The Nigerian government provided N150 million for the hiring of 40 buses to evacuate the stranded students to Cairo in Egypt.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelAir Peace, which promised to airlift those evacuated to Egypt back home, stated that the stranded students may have to wait a little longer in Cairo as the Egyptian government has denied it a landing permit, insisting on diplomatic approval from the federal government.
READ ALSO:FG Begins Evacuation Of 5,000 Nigerian Students In Sudan
Some of the evacuated students were seen in a viral video protesting their ordeal in the hands of the transport company, which asked its drivers to stop the journey halfway, complaining that only about 30% was paid to them.
One of the protesting Nigerians expressed disappointment with the mode of payment to the bus drivers, saying, “Why are our children always going through bitter experiences? We don’t even know where we are. There is no water nor food here.”
Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, NiDCOM, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said the evacuation process was a tedious one, adding that challenges were expected. She assured Nigerians that relevant agencies would resolve the situation in no time.
Dabiri-Erewa stated, “Whatever challenges are being faced now, I believe that relevant agencies will resolve them. We’re in touch with some of the students, and whatever it is they talk about, we try to convey to the relevant agencies, and we’ve resolved quite a few.”
Speaking separately in an interview on Channels Television, Dabiri-Erewa disclosed that more Nigerians, other than students who were documented for the evacuation from Sudan to Egypt, had opted to be brought back to Nigeria.
She disclosed that 13 buses left for the evacuation process in Sudan, adding that there might be additional ones. However, the transporters insisted on receiving their cash before they would release the next set of buses.
Meanwhile, stranded Nigerians being evacuated from war-torn Sudan to Cairo, the Egyptian capital, may have to wait a little longer at the airport, as the Egyptian government has denied Air Peace airline landing permit. The airline planned to deploy its aircraft to Egypt yesterday to commence airlift this morning but couldn’t do because of this denial.
