Returnees: The first batch of Nigerians fleeing the crisis in Sudan arrived in Nigeria on Wednesday, May 3, from Egypt.
They arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport at about 11.40 pm on Wednesday, May 3, with an estimate of 376 evacuees. About 282 persons were conveyed by the Air Peace aircraft while the Nigeria Air Force evacuated 94 back to the country.
Upon their return, they received the sum of N100,000 each upon their return to the country. They were also given N25,000 worth of recharge cards and 1.5 Gigabytes of data.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya Farouq, disclosed these at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on Thursday morning, May 4.
She said, “Today, we are very happy to receive them. They have gone through a very traumatic period but we give thanks to Almighty Allah that all of them are back safely. No life was lost which is the most important thing. All the efforts put in place were not in vain. I thank every member of the Committee that has put all efforts to ensure that these people are brought back safely and with dignity. We thank the transport companies for their support.
“There is N100,000 that would transport them back to their families which is supported by the Dangote Foundation by giving them the transportation fare as well as the dignity kits and also 25,000 recharge cards from MTN and 1.5 GB data courtesy of MTN. All efforts have been put in place and everyone has contributed to ensuring that at least these Nigerians have some comfort when they return home.”
The returnees were handed the N100,000 cash and the dignity kits at the airport after putting down their information.