From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Egyptian authorities has opened its border for Nigerian students evacuated from Sudan.
Abike Dabiri-Erewa, chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), who made the disclosure said said the border was opened after President Muhammadu Buhari spoke with Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Egyptian president.
The NIDCOM chairperson’s statement came a few hours after the commission said Egypt’s borders were still closed despite the arrival of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) in the northern African country to airlift the stranded students.
NIDCOM said the air force had assured the students that they will not be left behind.
“We will not leave without our students,” NAF was quoted as saying.
Dabiri-Erewa, however, said the borders had been opened but with stringent conditions. She did not give details on the required conditions.
“The border has just been opened, ( with stringent conditions ) after President Buhari’s intervention with the Egyptian President. So, the processing of evacuees by the Nigerian Embassy in Egypt will begin,” Dabiri-Erewa said.
The students, alongside other nationals, had been stranded at the Egyptian border since Thursday evening.
Dabiri-Erewa said the Egyptian authorities were insisting on visas, adding that the Nigerian mission in Egypt had been working tirelessly to rectify the issue.
The first set of evacuated Nigerians were initially expected to arrive in the country on Friday.
Meanwhile, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has denied a viral video that people from the South East were abandoned during the evacuation of Nigerians in Sudan.
Its Head of Media Ezekiel Manzo, who spoke to our correspondent, yesterday, noted that there was no truth in the video.
Manzo explained that Nigerians in Sudan were evacuated according to their state of origin for easy identification.
“I have not seen the video. But I can tell you categorically that the statement cannot be true.
“The only thing you must understand is that about 90 per cent of the people being evacuated are from the north.
“They are also carrying them according to the order of their state of origin for easy tracing.
“So, if they tell somebody from the vehicle that please, leave this vehicle, go and enter another because we are boarding people according to their state of origin, does that mean that they are throwing you away from the trip? It cannot be true. And you know that at least 90 per cent of people being evacuated are from the north. It is not true that the Igbos are being turned down, please.
“You must understand that the minister of foreign affairs is Igbo. The ambassador of Nigeria to Sudan is a Yoruba. So, there is nothing tribal about this,” he said.