Sudan crisis: FG to airlift stranded Nigerians via safe routes, warns against treacherous journeys

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, and her Foreign Affairs counterpart, Geoffrey Onyeama, have said plans are underway to airlift Nigerians caught up in the ongoing crisis in Sudan.

According to a statement in Abuja by Dr. Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, the two ministers said government has already set in motion mechanism to ensure the safe extraction of Nigerians.

Deploring the growing humanitarian crisis, the statement urged citizens to reach out to the Nigerian mission in Sudan for further instructions or call the numbers: +2348035866773, +249961956284, +2348063636862, +249961956274 +2349066663493.

The statement notes: “The ministers emphasise that concrete plans are underway to deploy, very shortly, air transport to evacuate all stranded Nigerian citizens, through identified safe transit areas, back home to Nigeria in safety and dignity.”

The Federal Government also empathised with persons stranded in Sudan, even as it warned against making treacherous journeys in a bid to return home.

Janet Olisa, Director Overseeing the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, gave the advice in a statement.

She urged parents to advise their children in Sudan to remain calm and maintain constant communication with officials of the Nigerian Embassy in Sudan for instructions and updates, maintaining that efforts are being made to evacuate them.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said there is a “high risk of biological hazard” at a laboratory caught up in the ongoing conflict.

Officials said it was unclear who was behind the occupation of the National Public Health Laboratory in the capital Khartoum.

The WHO told the BBC, yesterday, that workers could no longer access the lab. It warned that power cuts were making it impossible to properly manage material at the lab.

Officials said a broad range of biological and chemical materials are stored in the lab. The facility holds measles and cholera pathogens, as well as other hazardous materials.

A lack of power is also putting depleting stocks of blood bags stored at the lab at risk of spoiling.

The lab is near the centre of Khartoum and not far from city’s main airport.