Chairman/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has called on those concerned with passages and movement of persons and services along contiguous borders of Sudan to create a humane condition for about 7000 nationals, including Nigerians to have unfettered access to their various destinations.
In a statement yesterday by the Media, Public Relations and Protocols Unit of NIDCOM signed by Gabriel Odu, Dabiri-Erewa said over 7000 nationals, including Nigerians, were not being allowed to cross the border into Egypt since their arrival late yesterday evening.
She added that The Nigerian Mission in Egypt has been working tirelessly on the matter as the Egyptian authorities were insisting on visas by fellow Africans to transit back to their countries.
She appealed to the Egyptian authorities to kindly allow the already traumatised travellers to transit to their final destinations in various countries in Africa.
Dabiri-Erewa had on Thursday confirmed the arrival of the first set of stranded Nigerians in Sudan at the Aswan border in Egypt.
Confirming the development in a post on Twitter, she had said the border was already closed when the students got there, adding that they would proceed to the airport in the morning.
The Federal Government had also on Thursday said that the Nigerian Air Force, Air Peace and other airlines had received clearance to fly to Egypt to pick up stranded Nigerians.
This was contained in a joint press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development on the evacuation of Nigerians caught up in the ongoing crisis in Sudan.
The statement said: “Nigerian Mission in Egypt is liaising with the Egyptian authorities to facilitate the evacuation exercise, by providing emergency entry documents and holding shelters, until the stranded Nigerian are airlifted back to Nigeria.
“The Nigerian Air Force, Air Peace and other Airlines have received clearance to fly to Egypt. The NAF C-130H is scheduled to leave Abuja tomorrow, 28th April, 2023 to commence the airlifting of the evacuees.”
However, with the current development, the fate of the students was unclear as of 10.00p.m yesterday.
The Sudan crisis reportedly started on April 15 between the Sudanese army and paramilitary RSF, both headed by army generals.
