THE planned evacuation of Nigerian students from Sudan through Cairo by the Federal Government seem to be another of the govt’s ruse for public salute.
News Point Nigeria reliably gathered that, the evacuated students have been left stranded for over eight hours with no buses and no official in sight at the meeting point of the evacuation – International University Of Africa, Khartoum.
Some students who spoke to News Point Nigeria on condition of anonymity said, they were asked to converge at the campus of the International University Of Africa, Khartoum before 6am on Tuesday and over a thousand of them were at the venue before 4am but yet there were no buses and no officials to explain delay eight hours after.
“We were asked to converge here at 6am and most of the students were here before 4am. Students, families, women, children at the last count we did about two hours ago, at exactly 11:38am local time, there were 1, 143 persons here but yet there are no buses and no officials.
“There was an announcement in our parent’s WhatsApp group last night by one of the embassy official, that there will be a delay because of logistics problem from Nigeria but we hope and pray this logistics problem will be resolved soon”, a Quranic Science student told this newspaper.
Also speaking, a female medical student pleaded on the govt to come to their rescue as their condition has deteriorated. “We are here with no food and no water. There is no electricity, and in Sudan, there is no water without electricity and no wells.
“This morning countries like Tanzania, Malawi, Djibouti, Kenya, Ethiopia, Gambia and Indonesia all evacuated their students from neighboring venues and yet we are here left with stories and hardship.
“If the govt has no funds to evacuate us, we should be allowed to evacuate ourselves. Staying another hour in this country leaves us in grave danger as the ceasefire agreement can break down any time and then anything can happen”, she concluded.
When contacted by News Point Nigeria, an embassy official said he is not authorized to give update on the matter as only the Charge D’ Affairs, Haruna Yusuf Garko can do that.
The Head, Press Unit, NEMA, Manzo Ezekiel also promised to get back to News Point Nigeria with an update on the matter but there is none as at the time of filing this report.
News Point Nigeria had earlier reported that, the Director, Special Duties, Onimode Bandele, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said, it is true that there are plans to get buses to start moving Tuesday morning.
“And as I speak to you, the Director General, National Emergency Management Agency, Mustapha Habib, is already in Cairo because that is the window that we are looking at.
According to him, the movement is to be perfected between the Nigerian embassy in Khartoum and the NEMA director general.
Asked how many Nigerians to be removed from the troubled North African country, Bandele stated that evacuation of a few thousand citizens are in the works.
“Our projection was that most students and others who want to evacuate are about 5,000. But with my discussion with the ambassador this morning, the plan is for about 2,650-2,800 to move immediately, including families of embassy staff.
“As these plans continue, we’ll be able to update you with the actual figure and the exact time of departure from Khartoum to Cairo,” he said.
Pictures of students stranded in Khartoum:
