Rescued Nigerian students arrive Egypt, await airlift

were being arranged for day two evacuation. We were told the money would be sent to our Sudanese bank account and today is the second day of the evacuation, we are yet to receive any money. That is why we stopped the deployment of these buses for evacuation.”

The President of the Jigawa State Students Association in Sudan, Umar Abubakar, said he had been out since 5am waiting for a bus to evacuate them.

Abubakar said, “We are disappointed in everything. We are outside under the sun since 5am waiting for the buses, not even one official from embassy is around. Those people are just playing us along.”

He added that those who were evacuated from Khartoum to Egypt had been stranded since Wednesday at a border between Sudan and Egypt.

Abubakar said, “Even those that left for Egypt yesterday are now stranded on their way, because the drivers said they have not been paid and that they are not moving an inch until they are paid, or else they will drop the students there and return.”

Confirming this, a student of Noble College in Sudan, Idris Wakama, said “The drivers dropped our students in the middle of the desert. We do not know what is happening. They collected $100 from some of our students in the buses. The Federal Government needs to address the situation quickly.”

In a video obtained by our correspondent, female students was seen yelling: “Before we started this journey, we fought and now that we have the privilege of moving, the drivers dropped us in the middle of this desert. We have been stuck here for five hours.

“We do not have money nor water. We are in an unknown environment and it is very dangerous.”

However, our correspondent learnt that the drivers later continued the journey.

The drivers collected the students’ passports as collateral, only to be returned to them when they get paid at the border of Egypt.

In another video obtained by our correspondent, a parent was heard instructing other parents whose wards or children are schooling in Sudan to take responsibility and rescue their children from Sudan instead of waiting for the Federal Government or the embassy.

The parent said, “We have waited for the government and the embassy is not doing anything. At this point, we are taking responsibility and we are going to take action.

“Students, please write the number of students per bus and give us the cost. If we can afford it, we will send some money to a dollar vendor in Cairo. We will alert the Nigerian government that  we are paying our children’s trip and they are coming to Cairo. Please parents, let us take action now.”

But the spokesperson for the National Emergency Management Agency, Ezekiel Manzo, told our correspondent that the issue with the drivers that stopped on the way to Aswan had been sorted, adding that some buses were made available for students to be evacuated Thursday.

Manzo said, “Whatever little crisis that happened on the way has been cleared and the buses have continued their journey to Aswan, Egypt.

“Some three buses arrived at Khartoum a few minutes ago. We must understand that we are evacuating people from crisis-inflicting areas and these buses, some of them are coming from Egypt, along distance to Khartoum.

“We understand that the students are agitated but on our part, we are doing our best. We are not resting to make sure that they are taken out of the crisis zone.

“Be rest assured that the first batch of evacuees are on their way to Aswan. The aircraft has been prepositioned for take off any moment they arrive at Aswan.”

Confirming his statement on buses made available, The Chairman of the Nigerian Community (Elders Forum) in Sudan, Dr Hashim Na’Allah, said “As I am talking to you, there was no evacuation today. It is very unfortunate. Only Jigawa State that paid for its students to be evacuated. Though, they will be leaving tomorrow. It is late already. ”