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From Okwe Obi, Abuja
No fewer than 376 stranded Nigeria returnees have arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, at about 11:35pm on Wednesday from Sudan as a result of the crisis rocking the country.
They took off from Aswan, Egypt, where they were airlifted by the Nigerian Air Force on the NAF C-130H aircraft at about 4pm.
Federal Government’s delegation who received them were the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouk; Director General, National Management Emergency Agency (NEMA), Ahmed Mustapha and Chairman/CEO of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa.
Umar Farouq said each of the returnees would be given N100,000 to enable them settle in.
Also, NEMA boss noted that four aircraft were expected to arrive on Thursday and expected to convey about 400 persons, with the support of Azman Air which has joined Air Peace in the evacuation effort.
While giving update on the delay experienced by the stranded Nigerians, one of the officials said: “Two aircraft, Air Peace and NAF C130, are supposed to airlift 350 passengers.
“Unfortunately, 26 additional persons sneaked into the buses. The Egyptian personnel were there.The returnees were screened by officials of Federal Ministry of Health upon arrival in the country.
“They counted and they found 376 Nigerians. They refused the 26 people to stay back at the airport and they also refused to allow Nigerian officials to take the 26 people back to the border.
“Now, they want everyone to leave. Neither will they allow them to go back to the border.
“The only option is to overload the aircraft. The pilots were consulted and they said they could not airlift more people and have plenty of luggage.”
