By Blessing Bature
Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development on Friday airlifted another Batch of 130 Stranded Nigerians from Sudan.
The second batch of stranded Nigerians evacuated by the Nigerian government from the war in Sudan arrived at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja on Friday at 3:10 pm.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Dr Nasir Sani Gwarzo received the returnees and noted that as of today all stranded Nigerians that are willing to come back from Sudan have been evacuated to port Sudan awaiting airlifting.
Gwarzo stated that a total of 130 Nigerians returned with the second batch from Port Sudan which the returnees were mostly women, adding Nigerians in Port Sudan had begun boarding the TARCO Aviation airlines on Friday morning. More Nigerians are still expected back into the country from Aswan.
According to him, Nigerians that found their way to other borders like the Ethiopian border and the Saudi Arabia borders have been well received by the respective embassies saying that possible arrangements are been made to bring them back home.
“Today. All the people that arrived came from one port that is the port Sudan in the Republic of Sudan. It is unique because the bulk of our people after facing the initial difficulties at the border of Egypt, we move them to the port of Sudan. And we have now arranged flights to start bringing them back home.”
He also hinted that a woman who was due for delivery gave birth before boarding the plane and has been adequately taken care of including all who had health issues.
One of the returnees studying at Sudan International University expressed gratitude to the Federal government for their swift response in evacuating them while lamenting displeasure on the treatment they were given by the Nigerian embassy in Sudan.
Catherine Ubida, Director of Migration Affairs, National Commission for Refugees Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons said the commission is charged with the responsibility of taking care of all returnees including forthwith in Eastern Nigeria. So what we have done is put in place all necessary arrangements to make sure that when they come back, they are readmitted and then properly reintegrated.
“so, going forward, we have already started profiling them. We will go through some referrals to make sure they have nice education to find placements for them in schools when necessary. And then of course, we have a team of psychosocial support team, most of them are already traumatized, as you can see. So going forward, we’ll be able to make sure we provide psychosocial support to all of the students that have come back and then follow up, several weeks after to ensure that they have properly settled in and can live a normal life thereafter the trauma”, she said.