Crimes

FG pays $30,000 per bus to evacuate Nigerians from Sudan

The Federal Government says $30,000 was paid for each of the buses hired for the evacuation of stranded Nigerians from crisis-hit Sudan.

The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Dr Sani Gwarzo, made the disclosure in Abuja on Sunday, April 30, while speaking on the controversy surrounding the $1.2 million used to hire buses for the evacuation of Nigerians stranded in Sudan

Gwarzo, who is the chairperson of the Federal Government Situation Room, on the evacuation exercise, said: “Do you know how much it takes to hire a bus from Khartoum to the border? It is $30,000 per bus and you times it by 40 buses, that is where $1.2 million comes into.

“So, we transfer the first tranche of the money approved by Federal Government, which is $400,000, to them as deposit. If you take our $400,000 what comes to you is 1/3 of the total sum.

“So, they gave us 13 buses times $30,000 it will give us $390,000 believing that will continue with the evacuation, but they stopped giving us buses that our money has expired.

“But, they kept the remaining $10,000 and told us that our money has finished until we complete the remaining balance because we are meant to understand in Sudan there is nothing like you deposit money until assignment is done before you complete the remaining balance.

“We started transferring the remaining balance in tranches and believe me you don’t transfer money to Sudan directly, you have to get somebody who knows the company who will transfer and give them cash then go into agreement.

“And the transport company threatened that they will not move on with the evacuation process and whoever thinks that $1.2 million will be enough to move people from Khartoum to the border and airlift them to Nigeria is being economical with the truth,” he said.

Gwarzo further stated that the Federal Government had to enter into agreement with the transport company to ensure due process was followed in the transfer of the funds.

“We signed an MoU with them and at every stage we report this to DSS and NFIU so that they can monitor the movement of the money.

“And the company too should know that in Nigeria if you transfer money from government account, it does not go direct because it has a dashboard that can be seen.

“We had to alert the DSS and NFIU before we send this money, though in the process the money got delayed by the Central Bank System and this is what they call swift electronic cash transfer system, it got delayed,” he said.

According to him, that is the hitches they experienced in the first phase of the evacuation exercise.

He, therefore, stressed that the Federal Government is more interested in the safety and successful evacuation of the stranded Nigerian students.

The Star