By Charles Adingupu
As the war in Sudan escalates in every passing moment, following the deployment of heavy artillery by both the government and rebel forces, anxiety is heightened as the federal government has issued a 48-hour ultimatum to evacuate no fewer than 5,500 Nigerians trapped in the crossfire.
The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Honourable Abike Dabiri-Erewa who made this disclosure, said that out the total number of 5,500 Nigerians resident in Sudan, 4,500 of them are students.
The Diaspora Commission Chairman who disclosed that Nigerians made almost half of the entire population of Sudan, said that arrangements have been concluded to evacuate the over four thousand five hundred Nigerian Students stranded in the war ravaging country.
She said the evacuation of the students would be prioritised as the exercise would be extended to others who may so desire to return back home.
She blamed the delay in the evacuation of the trapped Nigerians on paucity of funds, adding that the two warring forces in Sudan must be adequately informed of our intension to evacuate our citizens in order to checkmate any unforseen circumstances.
This was sequel to an earlier statement credited to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyema that most Embassies are not funded as this ugly trend lives the Ambassadors stranded in cases of emergencies.
Dabiri-Erewa who disclosed that Nigerians formed almost half of the population of that country, said that the federal government is presently more concerned in evacuating the students.
The Diaspora Commission’s helmsman, advised the Nigerian Students, who, more than ever before, appeared desperate to live the war torn Sudan to ignore purported arrangements by the Nigeria Students’ Association to transport them to Nigeria on payment of one hundred dollars.
Dabiri-Erewa said that since the Sudanese Airport has been closed due to heavy fighting, the students would be moved to Safeway border town in Egypt where they will be subsequently airlifted to Nigeria.
It would be recalled that the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Air Peace had earlier pledged to airlift the stranded Nigerian students in warring Sudan on pro bono.
Only recently, the Yoruba students in Sudan appealed to Governors of the south west to come to their rescue as the federal government seems to have abandoned them to the cold hands of death.
Their appeal fell on deaf ears as the Governors of the South West region bluntly ignore their appeal.
