ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- The federal government of Nigeria says Nigerian students stranded in Sudan will likely receive at least $100 upon evacuation and return to Nigeria.
The government noted that the stipend would help them settle down before joining their families.
The chairperson of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said this in Abuja in Thursday during the weekly ministerial briefing organized by the presidential communications team.
“Nigeria Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) will decide what would be given to the returnees because the funding is with the ministry of humanitarian affairs and disaster management. Usually it is just a little amount,” said Dabiri-Erewa.
“The last one we gave them, we evacuated people, we gave them $100. So, it depends on the budget they have. But we in NIDCOM give them recharge cards, SIM cards and sometimes phones. Usually, they get $100 just to hold, and these are students coming back to their families. They are not refugees. They have homes.”
Dabiri-Erewa disclosed that 13 buses had departed Sudan for the Egyptian border Aswan, where the returnees would be airlifted to Nigeria.
The government official added that over 5,500 Nigerian students in Sudan would be among the first Nigerian nationals to be evacuated.
“We have some buses that have departed from the African International University in Khartoum, Sudan, and as I speak, I think they are just about two hours away from Aswan in Cairo.
“Others departed from the Elrazi University also in Khartoum. All in all, 13 buses have departed for the Aswan border in Egypt, where they will be received by the Nigerian Ambassador there and the Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Habib Ahmed, who is already there with some officials,” she said.