From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Barring any last-minute changes, the first set of Nigerian evacuees from Sudan are expected to arrive in Nigeria on Friday.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, who disclosed this, yesterday, said a Boeing 777 aircraft from Air Peace will depart Lagos by evening of Thursday to transport the first batch home on Friday.
She assured that all those who registered to be evacuated would be brought back safely, irrespective of status , gender and state of origin.
She stated this in an update at the 70th ministerial briefing, organised by the presidential communication team. She said over three million Nigerians are resident in Sudan, making them the highest number of the diaspora in the war-torn country.
She also said of those that have indicated interested to be evacuated, 5,500 were students.
Dabiri-Erewa said 13 buses out of the 40 hired, have departed from two universities in Khartoum, carrying Nigerian students to the Aswan border in Egypt, where they would be airlifted to Nigeria.
“At this point in time, we are dealing with 5,500 students, now that is not the population, some people are mixing it up. That is the number of students studying there. We have almost three million Nigerians who are in Sudan and have made it their home for years. So that is the current update.”
She, however, highlighted the challenge of more Nigerians expressing interest in returning home than previously indicated.
On allegations of segregation and discrimination in the evacuation process, she explained that children and women were given priority.
She said as the evacuees return to Nigeria, they would be given about $100 stipend to help them settle down before re-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 it is just a little amount. The last one 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 said.
She also allayed the fears of Nigerian returnees being attacked by warlords on the route, saying Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama already secured the understanding of the two warlords before moving Nigerians out of the country by road.