160 Women in Sudan claim to be Nigerians but lack passports to fly home – FG

NEMA’s director, Mustapha Ahmed, stated that the organization takes care not to evacuate anyone who is not a Nigerian.

According to the Federal Government, 160 women in Sudan who are claiming to be from Nigeria lack the necessary travel documents to return home.

This was disclosed by Mustapha Ahmed, the director general of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), on Sunday in Abuja while briefing the media on the status of the evacuation of Nigerians from the war-torn Sudan.

Although the women claimed to be from Nigeria, he said that they lacked Nigerian passports to support their claims.

He claimed that the organization takes care to avoid evacuating non-Nigerians.

It will be noted that the Nigerian Diaspora Commission had estimated there to be roughly three million Nigerians in Sudan and 5,000 students overall before to the evacuation exercise.

Apart from the 2,518 Nigerians who have been evacuated so far and the 15 aircraft that have been operated, the NEMA director claimed that many people who claim to be Nigerians cannot have their citizenship verified.

Although some of them claimed they were born in Sudan and that their great-grandparents went all the way back to the fifth generation, he said that claim could not be substantiated.

He described how some desperate Sudanese attempted to board the trucks carrying Nigerians from Sudan to the border with Egypt.

Ahmed would not provide an exact figure when asked how much money was spent on the evacuation of Nigerians from Sudan, but he did reveal that Nigeria spent a total of $22,662 on exit fees at the time the evacuees were being moved from Sudan and $62,950 on entry visas into Egypt.

According to NEMA, possibilities are now available to any Nigerian who is interested in moving back home and has valid documentation.

A pregnant woman who is believed to have given birth while awaiting evacuation is one among the 2,518 Nigerians who have returned. The only other child among the evacuees was hers. Jaundice is being treated for in the eight-day-old baby at the University Of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada.

According to NEMA, no Nigerian lives were lost as a result of the violence in Sudan. However, 23 sick evacuees in total were accepted; of them, 10 received medical attention right away, while 13 were sent to the 108 Nigerian Airforce Hospital in Abuja.