$1.2 million: No more money to evacuate us — Nigerian student trapped in Sudan

Nigerian students in Sudan

One of the Nigerian students currently stuck in Sudan, Abubakar Sadiq, on Friday, said they are still waiting for Federal Government of Nigeria to release the remaining money to foot their transportation fare back home.

TRIBUNE ONLINE reports the evacuation of 2,400 students and other Nigerians trapped by the ongoing conflict in Sudan took off on a slow start on Wednesday as only 15 out of the 40 buses required for the exercise were provided.

Although the Federal Government hired 40 buses for the repatriation of the citizens from Khartoum and other cities to Egypt, only 10 buses were available as of Wednesday morning, while additional five buses were provided later in the day.

This was happening as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama claimed the Federal Government had been charged $1.2m for the evacuation of Nigerian nationals out of Sudan.

He cited insecurity in Sudan for the high cost of evacuating Nigerians from Sudan.

But reacting, Sadiq, one of the trapped Nigerian students who spoke to Channels Television in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, said they are at the mercy of President Muhammadu Buhari-led government to flee the crisis-ridden North African country.

“Precisely, there is no date (for evacuation) because the information they shared with us today around 10 am, we were told to exercise patience. They (Nigerian Embassy) told us the remaining money is not with them.

“So, they are waiting for the federal government to release the remaining money,” he said.

According to him, “Only $400,000 out of the $2.1 million has been paid so far” adding that there is still outstanding of “$800,000”.

He further added; “there is no ceasefire” in the country as widely claimed while calling on the authority concerned to come to their aid.

READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE