Nigerians stranded in Sahara Desert despite FG’s $1.2 million spent on 40 buses for evacuation
After days of pleading by Nigerian students on the government to come to their aid following the ongoing crisis in Sudan, the Federal Government of Nigerian finally heeded to their call earlier in the week with the provision of 40 buses to evacuate the students and other non-students from the warring country.
Recall that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffery Onyeama, appeared on television that the Nigerian government would be spending $1.2 million to hire 40 luxurious buses to be used for the evacuation of Nigerians trapped in Sudan.
READ ALSO:, First batch of Nigerian students depart Sudan to Egypt
According to reports, other countries including United Kingdom and other European countries made concrete arrangements to evacuate their nationals from Sudan but the case was the reverse for Nigeria and her officials.
The lack of professionalism by some government officials who were supposed to handle an important assignment such as this was apparent after reports surfaced online that the buses sent to evacuate thousands of stranded Nigerian students and other nationals from warring Sudan were stopped in the middle of the Sahara desert by the drivers, who complained about the refusal of the Nigerian government to offset their payments.
A video which is making the rounds on social media showed some of the agitated students lamenting after being held in the desert for over four hours by the drivers with no help in sight from the government.
“The Buses evacuating Nigerian students and non-student were stopped in the middle of the Sahara, and the drivers refused to continue the journey because they were not PAID. @abikedabiri @nemanigeria @FMHDSD @nidcom_gov @NigeriaMFA,” Dr Ahmad captioned the video.
According to one of the students, a female she was heard complaining that the drivers insisted that they would not leave the desert unless they were paid.
She said, “Before we started this journey, we had to go on several fightings. Can you even imagine, we are stuck in this desert for five hours. We don’t even know the situation we are. Our money has finished.
“Can you even imagine? The vehicle drivers said they are not moving their buses if they don’t give them money.”
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