One hundred and thirty Nigerians arrived the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja from war-ravaged Sudan yesterday afternoon.
The evacuees arrived the airport with Taco Airlines about 4pm with 128 females and children and two male adults.
Director general of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Ahmed, said another team of 800 Nigerians were already on their way to the Egypt airport for onward movement to Nigeria.
Ahmed, who has been in the fore front of coordinating the evacuation of Nigerians from Sudan, said Max Air, with capacity of 560 passengers and Azman Air with capacity of 400 passengers were already in Egypt waiting for the passengers.
He also said Air Peace had been activated and the federal government would do everything possible to evacuate all Nigerians from Sudan.
Some of the evacuees who spoke to LEADERSHIP said the experience was terrible but were happy to be home.
Hajia Medina said the harrowing movement to the Port of Sudan and the Egyptian border was not worth remembering at all.
She appreciated the federal government for coming to their aid.
Head of NEMA media, Ezekiel Manzo, said additionally, in response to the basic humanitarian needs of Nigerian citizens at the Egyptian border, NEMA had continued to provide food, water and other essential supplies to them while awaiting the clearance into Egypt for onward airlift to Nigeria.
“The food arrangement was made by NEMA and the Nigerian Embassy in Egypt.
“By engaging other airlines, the evacuation operation will be accelerated. Similarly, Taco aviation based in Sudan has been engaged to enhance the movement of our citizens back home from the Port of Sudan.
“The director general of NEMA appreciates the approval granted by President Muhammadu Buhari; to the agency to carry out the evacuation.
Addressing the evacuees, the permanent secretary, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Dr. Nasir Sani Gwarzo, said; “Today we are celebrating unique moments in the history of this evacuation exercise. We have successfully removed everybody that needs to be removed out of Khartoum.”
Gwarzo said two days ago, the ministry brought in evacuees from the border of Sudan and Egypt through one port and all the evacuees that arrived yesterday came from the Port of Sudan.
“This is unique because the bulk of our people after facing initial difficulties at the Egypt border, then we moved them to the port of Sudan and we are now arranging flights to bring them back home.
“This flight is not only a successful outing but an eye-opener for the remaining part of the journey. More flight has been activated,” he said.
