The federal government has procured 40 buses at the cost of $1.2 million to evacuate stranded Nigerians now trying to get out of war-torn Sudan. NIGERIAN TRIBUNE reports.Information Guide Nigeria
Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, the Minister of Foreign Affairs said this at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The minister said that talks have been concluded with the Sudanese government to enable the evacuees to be moved to Cairo, Egypt.
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“With regards to the evacuation of Nigerians in Sudan, you’ll recall that the main challenge we had was securing some permission, first of all, authorization of the Sudanese government and, and then, you know, some security support for the convoy because it’s been decided that we will transport or convey the Nigerians to the Egyptian border Aswan.NYSC Portal
“So, that’s what we decided. We are liaising with our embassy in Egypt as well. So we’ve been able to overcome a number of challenges and have started the process which we’re very happy about. We secured significant number of luxurious buses because the distances are quite considerable. We started the process and it will take, you know, maybe a couple of days to evacuate everybody.”
“As regards the gender question, I think that’s obviously something we will have to look into in a bit more detail, but I think ordinarily, it will be appropriate that women and children should be given priority I think that goes without saying.”
“$1.2 million is what we’re being charged for all the 40 buses. We have huge transporter luxury buses made available to us to transport to the Egyptian border. Of course you know, because of the risks involved and so many other things, a lot of people are going to also take advantage, you’re going to hike up the price. We saw that the French convoy was attacked and so forth. It was difficult procuring these buses. But we had to do it because you know, Nigerian lives matters for us.”JAMB Result