Anxiety over safety of Nigerian students stranded in Sudan

BY ORIAKU IJELE

The viral videos of Nigerians, especially students lamenting over their plight enroute Egypt from war-torn Sudan is leaving palpable fear and amongst Nigerians over the safety of the students, more so, with the revelation that only a fraction of the entire population has been able to leave Sudan as fighting is expected to escalate in the coming days.

In the video, some Nigerians were seen complaining about the attitude of the bus drivers, who abandoned them midway, in an area with the ambience of a desert, owing to non-payment of their fees. They had lamented that the attitude of the drivers had put them in harm’s way and appealed to the authorities to come to their rescue.

But the Federal Government through the Chairman of NIDCOM, said Friday that efforts were on to resolve the matter.

According to the Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa about 7,000 people, including Nigerian students being evacuated from Sudan, are stranded at the Egyptian border.

A statement by the Commission’s Media, Public Relations and Protocol Officer, Gabriel Odu, on Friday, April 28, Dabiri-Erewa said the Nigerian Mission in Egypt was making efforts to secure the students’ entry into the country.

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“Dabiri-Erewa said over 7,000 Nationals, including Nigerians, are not being allowed to cross the border into Egypt since their arrival late yesterday evening. She added that The Nigerian mission in Egypt has been working tirelessly on this as the Egyptian authorities are insisting on visas by fellow Africans to transit back to their countries. She appealed to the Egyptian authorities to kindly allow the already traumatised travellers to transit to their final destinations in various countries in Africa,” the statement noted.