Sudan: Reps probe Egypt’s refusal to grant access to stranded Nigerians

The House of Representatives will investigate the circumstances that led to the hard diplomatic stance of the Egyptian authorities over the plight of Nigerians affected by the ongoing crisis in Sudan.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, said this in Abuja on Tuesday during a situation report and update meeting on the evacuation of Nigerians from Sudan.

Those at the meeting included the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Zubair Dada, the Director General of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa

Others were the Permanent Secretary, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs Social Development, Nasir Gwarzo; and other officials of government.

The Speaker said no room should be given to jeopardise the efforts of the Federal Government to safely evacuate Nigerians home.

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Gbajabiamila said the House would examine, to eliminate the apparent confusion over the roles and jurisdiction of relevant ministries and agencies of government in the management of the crisis involving Nigerians abroad.

“Our concern is to bring every Nigerian who wants to return home to Nigeria,” the Speaker stated.

Gbajabiamila expressed worry over the report that though Nigerians were evacuated from Sudan, they got delayed at the Egyptian borders because the authorities denied them access to their territories to continue with their journey.

He assured that the House would look into the matter and ensure that it did not happen again

“It is heartwarming that borders are now open in Egypt. But we will take it up in parliament to find out why they didn’t open the borders in time, especially in a period of crisis like this.

“We are happy that all 5,500 Nigerians willing to leave Khartoum have been evacuated and are on their way home to Nigeria,” the Speaker added.

Gbajabiamila stated that the House would revisit the law that made the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) the agency responsible for taking charge of such evacuations for a possible review.

He said this became necessary due to the lapses observed in the current evacuation operations as seen in the overlapping roles of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs; Humanitarian, Disaster Management and Social Development.

Others include NiDCOM and NEMA.

The Star