No Nigerian Died In Sudan War – FG Reveals

According to The Nation, the Federal Government has announced that no Nigerian nationals have been murdered in Sudan's ongoing civil conflict.

According to the report, the Saudi government has already evacuated numerous Nigerians by sea.

Geoffrey Onyeama, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and his Minister of State, Zubairu Dada, made the remarks to media during the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting last week.

Speaking about the evacuation procedure, Dada stated that the Federal authorities has successfully obtained approval and authorization from the Sudanese authorities to remove Nigerians.

“The evacuation is being done in batches to ensure the safety of all Nigerians, but the good news is that no Nigerian life has been lost so far. I think it’s important to stress that all Nigerians are very safe and we’re very confident and hopeful that we shall not lose any Nigerian life Insha Allah in this exercise. All is well and we’re good to go,” he assured.

When asked if all Nigerians will be evacuated before the 72-hour deadline, Dada answered, "We have no problem with the 72-hour deadline." We've talked to all of the authorities involved and we're on the same page, but when it comes to the window, we're making every effort to use it to analyze as many Nigerians as possible."

Dada further stated that the Saudi government had already evacuated several Nigerians by ship.

“Let me also add that some Nigerians have actually been evacuated by ship, I guess from Port Sudan, by the government of Saudi Arabia. Don’t forget, this is a joint effort. We have friendly nations that are ready to assist, you know, so that we’re having to record that the Saudi authorities have been able to, pick up some Nigerians, they’re transporting them by ship, I guess to Saudi Arabia, to Jeddah in particular. From where, of course, again, we’ll link up and find a way of bringing them back from Jeddah those that succeed in going to Jeddah,” he said.

On the order of priority of those to be evacuated, Dada said: “On how the operation is being handled, all lives are equal. Certainly, we won’t want to give preference to diplomats. The diplomats are just as good as every other Nigerian, so we will take them all on board depending on who’s ready and available at any point in time.’’

In the order of evacuation, he said women and children will be prioritised, adding that diplomats will not be evacuated before the students and other Nigerians.

On how much it was costing Nigerian government, Onyeama said: “$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 matter for us.”