Abuja – Three hundred and seventy-eight Nigerians evacuated from Sudan arrived Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja at exactly 11:25 pm on Wednesday
The were flew into the country by Air Peace Plane and the Nigeria Air Force C-130.
The planes discharged them at the pilgrim terminal of the airport.
The evacuees who were mostly students were evacuated from Aswan border, Egypt.
The Federal Government had earlier released $1.2 million for their evacuation.
They Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya Umar Farouq; the Director General of NEMA; the Chairman/CEO of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, the Federal Commissioner, National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons were on hand to receive them.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management then announced a donation of N100,000 stipend to each of the returnees courtesy of Dangote Foundation.
The MTN Foundation also gave each of them recharge cards worth N25,000 and 2.5GB data.
“The N100,000 stipend donated by Dangote Foundation was for the returnees to use as transport fare to travel to their various destinations with ease,” the Minister said .
The Director-General of, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr. Mustapha Ahmed, said that four more flights conveying Nigerians from Sudan are expected in Nigeria on Thursday.
“The situation in Sudan is real and terrible but we pray peace returns to that country.
“I am happy our people have started coming back.
“We are expecting about four flights tomorrow – three from Port Sudan and one from Aswan.
“So it is a process that has started and the tempo will keep on increasing.
“This is something that nobody expected and so we had to swing into action immediately.
“To get out of Sudan, we had to pay, to take our people to any other part, but we thank God that we are able to bring them back,” he said.
He also assured that those yet to be evacuated would be transported back home soon. (NAN/vitalnewsngr.com)
