The Federal Government has issued a fresh situation report regarding the conditions of Nigerians in Sudan amid the ongoing crisis in the North East African country.
Addressing newsmen at the state house on Wednesday, the Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Zubairu Dada, said no Nigerian has died in the fight between warring military factions in Sudan so far.
Dada, who spoke after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said the government is working assiduously to evacuate Nigerians.
He said, “We are confident we shall not lose any life in this exercise to evacuate stranded Nigerians.”
Dada disclosed that the Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and staff of the Nigerian commission in Egypt and Ethiopia are currently on the ground in the Egyptian border in Aswan to receive close to 40 luxury buses conveying Nigerians who had left the Sudanese capital, Khartoum by road.
He added that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) government had already evacuated some Nigerians through the sea, a development he noted was highly appreciated by the federal government.
While speaking, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, said the process started after the federal government had overcome some challenges, adding that it would take a couple of days to evacuate stranded Nigerians.
He said the sum of $1.2 million had been spent so far on the current effort to move them by road.
Onyeama said once they were safely moved to Egypt, other arrangements would be effected to airlift them back to Nigeria.
Both Ministers said women and children would be given priority before diplomats who were equally involved in the evacuation arrangement and logistics.
They said the Nigerian government was leveraging the 72 hours cease fire window given by the Sudanese government to evacuate as many Nigerians as possible