The Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, NIDCOM, Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa says 5,500 Nigerians schooling in Sudan would be evacuated from Sudan due to the raging war there.
She made the disclosure on Thursday at the weekly ministerial briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team.
Dabiri-Erewa stated that there are over three million Nigerians residing in Sudan and efforts are being made to evacuate as much as possible from Sudan, if the war persists, adding that priority will be on children, students and women.
The NIDCOM Chairman said already, 13 buses have departed Sudan for Egyptian border Aswan, from where the returnees would be airlifted back to Nigeria.
She said: “We have some buses that have departed from the African International University in Khartoum, Sudan and as I speak, I think they are just about two hours away from Aswan in Cairo.
“Others departed from the Elrazi University also in Khartoum. All in all, 13 buses have departed for Aswan border in Egypt where they will be received by the Nigerian Ambassador there and the Director General of the National emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Habib Ahmed, who is already there with some officials.”
She said it is now time for Nigeria to focus more on Nigerians in Sudan and other parts of Africa because there are many of them residing in other African countries.
“When we were talking about Diaspora voting, some people were saying when we do that, it may not augur well. But we said no, we need to go to places like Sudan where we have millions of Nigerians who migrated there years ago and they have relationships and businesses there.
“The data is being worked on but I want to tell you categorically that by the time we finish the research we are doing, perhaps Sudan would be one of the largest areas where we have the largest concentration of Nigerians in diaspora. Everytime we focus on Europe, America and all that, it is time to focus on Africa and Africans in the Diaspora,” she said.
Stipends
Dabiri-Erewa said as the evacuees return to Nigeria, they would be given some stipends to help them settle down before joining their families.
“NEMA will decide what would be given to the returnees because the funding is with the Ministry of Humanitarian affairs and Disaster Management. Usually is just a little amount. The last one, we gave them we evacuated people, we gave them $100. So, it depends on the budget they have.
“But we in NIDCOM give them recharge cards, SIM cards and sometimes phones. Usually they get $100 just to hold and these are students coming back to their families. They are not refugees, they have homes,” she stressed.
Challenges
She also said challenges associated with the evacuation process are already being addressed as she suggested that Rapid response Squads be established by NEMA in all parts of the country and in the diaspora, to help address unforeseen circumstances.
“I think that moving on, it is very important for NEMA to have Rapid Response Squads with military formations in all parts of Nigeria and then in the diaspora with military attaches. There really has to be those teams set in place.. It shouldn’t be when the crisis happens we start running around,” the NIDCOM Chairman advised.
Confidence Okwuchi
