Sudan Evacuation Crisis: Akinyemi Absolves Egypt of Blame

The New Diplomat
Writer

Ad

OPEC Rejects Media Reports of Major Output Hike Ahead of G8 Meet

OPEC has slammed the brake on speculation, flatly rejecting media reports that the G8 is preparing to hike crude oil production by half a million barrels per day. In a statement from Vienna on Tuesday, the OPEC Secretariat called the claims “wholly inaccurate and misleading,” stressing that discussions among ministers for the upcoming meeting haven’t…

Ranked: Countries Losing the Most (and Least) from Trump’s Tariffs

Trump’s tariffs are hitting all of America’s major trading partners. But in U.S. trade, what matters isn’t just the tariffs a country faces—it’s how they stack up against competitors. This visualization, made with the Hinrich Foundation, shows which countries are losing the most, and the least, from Trump’s tariffs. The data seen here is sourced from…

Emergency in Rivers: Romancing impunity?, By Ebun Olu-Adegboruwa 

By Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN “I urge every Nigerian home and abroad to try and live within the confines of the law of the land and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. If we are able to do just that, we will be sure of ensuring that peace and unity reign in the country.…

Ad

  • Says “Our own dysfunctionality” is responsible

By Yemi Yusuf

A former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bolaji Akinyemi said the Federal Government has only itself to blame over the problems confronting Nigerians fleeing the war in Sudan.

Akinyemi told Arise TV on Monday that Nigeria should not blame Egypt “for our own dysfunctionality.”

According to him, the federal government must empower the ministry to avoid repeating the diplomatic issues that happened at the Egyptian border during the evacuation of Nigerians from Sudan.

He faulted the arrangement of the Nigerian government in the evacuation process adding that “it does not make sense.”

Akinyemi said, “I’m not happy about the dysfunctionality of the arrangements in Nigeria. Egypt knows only one institution of diplomacy when dealing with Nigeria and that is Ministry of foreign affairs.

“That is why we opened an embassy there. So that those that we entrust with those functions would also know the rules on the ground.

“But then, we bring in the NIDCOM and Ministry of humanitarian affairs — bodies that Egypt might not have had any relationship with. They now start influencing what will happen in Egypt. It does not make sense.

“Don’t let us blame Egypt for our own dysfunctionality. Empower the Ministry of foreign affairs to do its job. Then, we can complain if they are derelict in doing that job or not doing it effectively. Interposing the diaspora commission in the foreign field is only going to lead to the kind of problem that we saw.”

Recall that on May 1, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) said the Egyptian authorities were refusing access to Nigerian evacuees from the civil unrest in Sudan.
The commission added that Egyptian authorities were insisting on visas from the fleeing Nigerians who were being evacuated by buses to the country’s border before their eventual movement to Nigeria.

But, NiDCOM later announced that the North African country had made a U-turn and opened its borders to the Nigerians after President Muhammadu Buhari spoke with Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the Egyptian president.

Also speaking on the development, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, said the green chamber would look into the immediate circumstances that led to the hard “diplomatic stance” of the Egyptian authorities.

Ad

Unlocking Opportunities in the Gulf of Guinea during UNGA80
X whatsapp