The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is set to return 13 Nigerian students that fled from the war-torn Sudan into Saudi Arabia, back to Nigeria.
LEADERSHIP learnt that the students were scheduled to depart Jeddah Wednesday onboard Qatar Airways and arrive Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja on Thursday.
The names of the 13 Nigerian students expected back home on Thursday were given as Mannira Buniya, Hadiza Idi, Naima Mamuda, Hindatu Salmanu, Aminu Ibrahim, Muntari, and Aliya Rabbilu.
Others are Muhammad Zubairu, Aisha Sani, Asmau Adamu Dandada, Abdulkadir Lawan Gambo, Suleiman Sani Idris and Mubarak Zakariya.
The spokesperson of NEMA, Ezekiel Manzo, said in a statement that “the return of the 13 Nigerian students from Saudi Arabia is part of the evacuation of stranded Nigerian citizens in the war-torn Sudan by the federal government through NEMA and other relevant agencies.
“These students had fled by using boats through the Red Sea into Saudi Arabia, where they sought the assistance of the federal government to be transported back home.
“Consequently, they were profiled by the Nigerian Mission in Saudi Arabia and arrangement for their safe return made by the NEMA in line with the mandates of the agency.”
It would be recalled that the federal government through NEMA had recently evacuated a total of 2,518 stranded Nigerian citizens from Sudan, airlifted from Port Sudan and Aswan, Egypt.
