Nigeria to evacuate over 5,500 trapped students, others from Sudan by road

Disclosing this during a Channels Television programme, Politics Today, on Sunday, April 23, 2023, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, said the government has concluded arrangements to bring the trapped Nigerians back to the country by road.

This is coming as a result of the ongoing conflict in the Northeastern African country following a clash between a paramilitary group, Rapid Support Force (RSF) and Sudanese armed forces.

The fierce confrontation, which broke out on Saturday, April 15, 2023, has now entered its eighth day without showing any sign of abating. The development has prompted foreign nationals resident in Sudan to seek evacuation back to their countries for safety purposes.

As of Sunday, April 23, 2023, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has successfully evacuated 91 of its citizens while 66 nationals from 12 other countries which included Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Tunisia, Pakistan, India, Bulgaria, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Canada, and Burkina Faso were also airlifted from Sudan.

However, Onyeama said his ministry has been adequately informed that an estimated 5,500 citizens, which included students, workers and others have indicated their readiness for the evacuation.

The Minister disclosed that the government decided to opt for the road transportation option following an incident where a French rescue team flight was attacked in Sudan.

Onyeama said, “We have been given the cost estimate and all the details. They gave us a figure of 5,500 who are ready for evacuation. Obviously, what you need in a situation like this is a place where everybody can congregate before you start moving them out.

“Because the airports, as you pointed out in your report, is out of commission. The only viable way out is by road. Of course, it’s totally safe. So we want to require the government to provide some security and a safe corridor out.

“Our situation is particularly challenging because the numbers are so great. Some of the countries like the US and European countries have started evacuating. But what they’ve been evacuating were actually their diplomatic staff. They haven’t been able to start evacuating their citizens there. We can’t evacuate all our diplomatic staff at the moment because they need to also coordinate the evacuation of all those students that we’re talking about.”

It would be recalled that the Federal Government had said on Friday that evacuation of stranded citizens was impossible at this period due to the tense situation in the Northeastern African country, which shares its border with seven namely Libya, Egypt, Chad, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Eritrea.

Speaking further, Onyeama said the ministry is taking necessary precautions to not endanger the lives of stranded Nigerians by requesting for security clearance from the Sudanese authorities.

He noted that three options are available for road evacuation which include going through the Egyptian border, Port Sudan, and the Ethiopian border.

Onyeama added, “So essentially, where we are at the moment is trying to get the authorization from the Sudanese government to undertake this long journey and for them to provide some security. Now we don’t want to take any risk or risk the lives of any Nigerian. Because from what we saw yesterday, for instance, how the French in trying to evacuate their citizens came under fire. We don’t want to expose our brothers and sisters to that danger as well.

“We are doing everything we can to get the requisite approval for the Sudanese government at the very highest level. I was in touch today with somebody in the Office of the President and made a formal request to have a safe corridor to evacuate our people. And they confirmed that they had received it and they would be giving us attention.

“The three options available to us include the Egyptian border, Port Sudan and Ethiopian border.”