The Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, said Wednesday that the airlift of students and other Nigerians stranded in war-torn Sudan would begin on Friday.
Onyema disclosed this in an interview on Arise TV on Wednesday.
He said three wide-bodied Boeing 777 aircraft will be deployed to Cairo today for the airlift starting tomorrow.
”Yes, we will begin the airlift of the stranded students and other Nigerians on Friday (tomorrow) but the planes will be dispatched on Thursday (today).
”the reason we are deploying the planes on Thursday is the fact that the buses conveying them from Sudan to Egypt will spend two days on the road to arrive there late Thursday (today), so we can begin the airlift the next day.
”We are currently in touch with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nigerian mission in Cairo on this,” Onyema said.
On how the students would know where and when the airlift would commence, Onyema said the Nigerian mission was liaising with the students to inform them of the plans, Vanguard reports.
On why the airline was always involved in free airlift of Nigerians in dire situations, the Air Peace boss said it was informed by the desire to foster Nigeria’s unity.
He said: ”It is painful that the diversity of the country, which should be a source of strength, is now a source of division.
”This is a Nigerian project and not a tribal thing, as some people are already alluding on social media. It is unfortunate that we bring tribalism into everything we do in the country. So, airlifting Nigerians free from troubled zones across the world is our own way of promoting Nigerian unity.”