Following the Sudanese crisis, which has killed over 500 people and displaced tens of thousands of people, thousands of Nigerians were left stranded at the Egyptian border. They were refused entry by the Egyptian authorities, who demanded visas from them. However, President Muhammadu Buhari’s intervention with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has led to the opening of the border, giving the stranded Nigerians hope.
According to the Chairman/CEO of the Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission(NIDCOM), Dr. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the border has just been opened (with stringent conditions) after President Buhari’s intervention with the Egyptian President. She revealed in a tweet that the processing of evacuees by the Nigerian embassy in Egypt will begin.
The National Association of Nigerian Students in Sudan (NANSS) has also confirmed that all stranded Nigerian students in the crisis-ravaged country have been evacuated from the country’s capital, Khartoum, on 26 buses. The last set of Nigerian students was reportedly evacuated from Khartoum on Sunday, April 30, 2023.
The Nigerian government had earlier assured that the stranded Nigerians would be evacuated to safer places, where they would now be airlifted to the country. Although the students had some tortuous journey going to the border of Egypt as they were stranded in the desert following the alleged failure of the Nigerian authorities to pay the bus company, the problem has been resolved. Most of the Nigerians have reached the Egyptian border and reportedly being cleared, according to the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs Disaster Management and Social Development.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, had revealed that the Nigerian government would spend $1.2 million to hire 40 buses for the evacuation of Nigerians trapped in Sudan. As many countries have already evacuated their citizens from Sudan, the Nigerian government’s efforts are commendable.
The intervention of President Muhammadu Buhari with the Egyptian President has led to the opening of the border, and stranded Nigerians can now breathe a sigh of relief. The crisis in Sudan has been devastating, and it is a relief to see that the Nigerian government is doing its best to evacuate its citizens safely.