Following questions raised about the prohibitive cost quoted as being paid to evacuate Nigerians caught in the ongoing Sudan conflict, the Federal Government has come out with a cost breakdown.
The government said $30,000 was paid per bus and that 40 buses were procured for the proper evacuation of stranded Nigerian citizens.
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, Channels News reports.
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 sending money to Sudan cannot be done directly but through middlemen. He added that the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) have been carried along in the payment process.
