From Victor Osula, Abuja
Hundreds of Nigerian students fleeing war-torn Sudan in buses sent by the government to convey them to Egypt to catch a flight to Nigeria are trapped in the desert, a few hours drive out of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum following the refusal of drivers to go any further.
This sudden turn of events is as a result of the non-payment of an agreed fee by the Nigerian government, which contacted the Sudanese logistics company to convey the stranded students across the desert to safety in Egypt.
Only yesterday, the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama disclosed to State House Correspondents after the National Executive Council meeting on Abuja that $1.2m had been set aside to hire buses to transport the students to Egypt.
Consequently, five buses filled with the students studying at the Sudanese university set out on Wednesday, but only for the drivers to stop on get far into the desert and demanded for payment.
The Buses evacuating Nigerian students and non-students
were stopped in the middle of the Sahara, and the drivers refused to continue the journey because they’ve not been paid.
Videos of the stranded students, male and female, crying for help in the desert has gone viral on social media. Many complain of hunger and fear of attack in a strange, vast and lonely desert. They claim that the drivers told them they were acting on the instructions from the management of their company.
The number of stranded students could be as many as 250, each of the buses has a reported capacity of 50 passengers.
In a Channels TV interview monitored by THISAGENEWS, Chairman of Nigeria Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri exonerated her Commission from the fiasco, adding the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, were directly involved in the matter.
Ministry officials could not be reached as at the time of filing this report.
