The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) says it will commence the evacuation of stranded Nigerians from Sudan on Tuesday.
It said the evacuation will be done by road from Khartoum , the Sudanese capital to Cairo , Egypt.
NEMA Director, Special Duties,Dr Onimode Bandele said during an interview on Channels TV Monday said those to be evacuated first are students, embassy staff and their families.
He said the plan is to move about 2650 to 2800 persons saying the number of evacuees at a particular time depends largely on the number of buses and the ability to easily manage security.
The NEMA Director revealed that no one has been evacuated from the country since crisis began more than a week ago adding that there are plans to evacuate the stranded Nigerians by buses from the wartorn capital to Egypt “The truth is, nobody has been evacuated yet. I just spoke to the Ambassador in Khartoum, Olaniyan some few minutes ago and the truth is, it is true that there are plans to get buses to start movement tomorrow (Tuesday) morning and as I speak with you, the Director General of NEMA, Mustapha Ahmed is already in Cairo because that is the window that we are looking at. We have a town called Luxor and another one. So, the movement is perfected between the Embassy in Khartoum and the DG NEMA who is already in Cairo.”
“So, as confirmed by the Nigerian Ambassador in Khartoum, tomorrow, it is guaranteed that movement by road will start”.
“The population is worked by the number of buses and the number of buses will determine how many can move at a particular time. Like I said, if you are evacuating in a situation of internal crisis like we have in Sudan, you have to be mindful of the number of buses in your convoy so that you can easily manage it; security-wise.”
On the authenticity of the evacuation, he said: “I am sure the ambassador, Olaniyan will not push out the information that students should prepare for evacuation if there is no guarantee from the home country. I know that there is a process that has begun for us to bring back Nigerians from Sudan.”
He gave an insight on n why it took Nigeria about two weeks before talks on evacuation started.
According to him, “From the conversation we had with the ambassador in Khartoum when the issue started, it was not safe for anybody to start any movement and there was a total lockdown in that country.
“It is just some few days ago that they got the window and the window they got, they still have to tread softly because we don’t know what the situation might be. Let me quickly remind you that countries like France and Qatar tried to do some movement on Saturday but because of the security situation, they had to retrieve to Khartoum. So as much as we feel the pains of our citizens, we feel we should do it right so that we don’t have casualty on our side. So, that is where we are as at today.”
He said Egypt was chosen for evacuation for security reason “when you are doing evacuation, you have to consider security and it has to be in a dignified manner. So, the choice of Egypt should have come up because of the consideration of the people on ground.
Mr Bandele also spoke on what the agency would do for those who self-evacuated,
He said “We are aware that some of the students self-evacuated to the border, about ten of them and the ambassador in Ethiopia has sent a note verbale to the government of Ethiopia to allow the citizens pass through their country and as at yesterday night, we spoke and efforts are still ongoing. So, we are aware they are there but we are advising that communication should be directed to the Embassy in Khartoum because they are the sole representative of Nigerian government in that country.
