This is happening as the federal government continues to make preparations to bring citizens back home.

After the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting that was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Zubairu Dada informed State House correspondents that there had been no Nigerian deaths in the conflict between military factions in Sudan up until this point. He gave an update on the evacuation process on Wednesday (today).

The Minister was quoted by Daily Trust as saying, “We are confident we will not lose any life in this exercise to evacuate stranded Nigerians.”

According to Dada, the staff of the Nigerian commission in Egypt and Ethiopia as well as the Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) are currently on the ground at the Egyptian border in Aswan to receive close to 40 luxury buses carrying Nigerians who had traveled by road from the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.

Further, the Minister stated that the federal government commended the Saudi Arabian government’s assistance in the sea-based evacuation of some Nigerians.

Geoffrey Onyeama, Minister of Foreign Affairs, also addressed journalists. He said that the process started after the federal government overcame some obstacles and that it would take a few days to evacuate the stranded Nigerians.

He confirmed that the current road transportation effort had cost $1.2 million thus far. According to Onyeama, other arrangements would be made to fly them back to Nigeria once they had been safely transported to Egypt.

Women and children, according to both ministers, would be prioritized over diplomats, who were equally involved in the evacuation logistics.

They said the Nigerian government was utilizing the 72 hours truce window given by the Sudanese government to clear whatever number Nigerians as could be allowed.