FG reveals evacuation of Nigerians from Sudan completed

All Nigerian students fleeing war-torn Sudan have been successfully evacuated from Sudan.

The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) made the announcement on the Federal Government’s behalf on Saturday.

Since the commencement of the evacuation exercise on May 3, no fewer than 2,518 Nigerians have been airlifted to Nigerian soil.

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Saturday’s evacuation happened to be the 15th batch where 125 more Nigerians arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja.

The evacuees arrived at 12:49 pm on a Tarco B737-300 aircraft from Port Sudan. The latest arrival brings the total number of evacuated Nigerians from Sudan to 2,371.

Upon arrival, the returnees were processed by immigration officials alongside their colleagues from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants, and Internally Displaced Persons.

On May 3, after nearly two weeks of assurances by the Federal Government, the first batch of Nigerians fleeing Sudan arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

The Air Peace flight carrying over 270 Nigerian students from the Aswan Airport in Egypt first landed at the airport, with the NAF C-130H jet conveying about 80 persons following closely behind.

Two days later, the second batch arrived in Abuja around 3 pm on board a Tarco Airline aircraft carrying 130 passengers including 128 females and two males.

It is not clear if the evacuation process will continue for other non-students who may be stranded in Sudan.

According to the commission, the evacuations were carried out by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), Tarco Air, Max Air, Azman Air, and Air Peace.

The evacuated Nigerians were brought home batch by batch, with Tarco Air responsible for 11 of the 15 flights.

“During this exercise, no single Nigerian life has been lost so far,” NIDCOM added.