There is a ray of hope for Nigerians stranded in the crisis-ridden Sudan as the Federal Government has given the assurance that it working round the clock to ensure their evacuation.
This assurance was given by the Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama while featuring on Sunday Politics on Channels Television.
“So, we have been working round the clock for the last two days to try and get the Nigerians out,” he said on the show, adding that the country’s embassy has been mandated to open a platform to register the nation’s citizens in Sudan.
ValidViewNetwork had earlier reported that countries such as US, France and UK had evacuated their citizens from the crisis- ridden Sudan.
The comment of the Foreign Affairs Minister is believed to be a reaction to various criticisms and accusations that the Federal Government displayed nonchalant attitude towards the safety and evacuation of Nigerians from the North African country.
However, Onyeama posited that the evacuation was not as simple as being portrayed as it involved so much logistics and planning.
“Because the airport as you pointed out in your report is out of commission, the only viable way out is by road,” the minister added. “But of course, it is not totally safe so you are going to require the government to provide some security and a safe corridor out.”
He gave the figure of Nigerians in Sudan as 5, 500, a large number which makes the situation more difficult.
According to Onyeama, 80 percent of the 5, 500 are students.
While trying to justify how difficult it is to evacuate the 5,500, the Minister hinted that some countries reported to have evacuated their citizens only evacuated their diplomatic staff and not all of their citizens as speculated online.
But he assured that “we are doing everything we can to get the requisite approval from the Sudanese government”.
“Essentially, where we are at the moment is trying to get authorisation from the Sudanese government to undertake this long convoy journey and for them to provide some security.”
When asked to be specific about when the evacuation will begin, he said “we are hoping that in the next day or two we would have got the approval from the Sudanese government to start moving people out”.
Until then, Federal Government agencies like the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) are working to provide relief to Nigerians stranded in the country whom he advised should “stay where you are” before the evacuation begins.
