In obvious shun of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government moves, the Kaduna State Government has commenced independent evacuation of its students on scholarship in Sudan.
KADUNA STATE HAS EVACUATED ALL ITS SCHOLARSHIP BENEFICIARIES IN SUDAN AND HAS ALSO COMMENCED THE EVACUATION OF ALL KADUNA STATE STUDENTS. pic.twitter.com/TKmdkROXMP
— Kaduna State Scholarship & Loans Board (@kadss_lb) April 30, 2023
The Secretary of the Kaduna State Scholarship and Loans Board, Hassan Rilwan, revealed this in a statement shared on the board’s Twitter page on Sunday.
Part of the statement read, “Kaduna State has evacuated all its scholarship beneficiaries in Sudan and has also commenced the evacuation of all Kaduna State students.
“This is following the intense war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces and recent agreement to implement a nationwide ceasefire starting at midnight on April 24, to last for 72 hours.”
Also Read: FG gives breakdown of $1.2m bus fare for Sudan evacuees
Meanwhile, the Federal Government on Sunday gave a breakdown of the $1.2m spent on the bus fare to evacuate stranded Nigerians from war-torn Sudan to Egypt borders for onward airlifting to Nigeria.
Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, the Permanent Secretary of the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry and Chair of the Situation Room on evacuation of Nigerians from Sudan, gave the explanation after a closed-door meeting of the ministry in Abuja.
He explained that $30,000 was paid per bus and that 40 buses were procured for the proper evacuation of Nigerian citizens stranded in Sudan.
He also explained the delays experienced by Nigerians at the Egyptian borders, delays on payment caused by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the requests for visa payments by the Egyptian government.
According to him, the owners of the buses demanded complete payment, noting that the sending money to Sudan cannot be done directly but through middlemen. He quickly added that the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) have been carried along in the payment process.
