Egypt Finally Opens Border To Nigerians Leaving Sudan

The Federal Government has disclosed that Egypt has opened its borders to Nigerians fleeing war-torn Sudan.

In a Twitter update on Monday, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) on Monday said an Air Force plane was already on ground in Aswan, Egypt, adding that the processing of the first set of evacuees would begin.

“With the intervention of President Muhammadu Buhari, Egypt has finally opened its border to Nigerians fleeing Sudan,” the Commission tweeted.

Abike Dabiri-Erewa, chairperson of the Commission, noted that President Muhammadu Buhari reached out to President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, his Egyptian counterpart, before arriving at the solution.

According to her, Egypt agreed to open the border under stringent conditions.

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“The border has just been opened, (with stringent conditions) after President Buhari’s intervention with the Egyptian President. So, the processing of evacuees by the Nigerian Embassy in Egypt will begin,” Dabiri-Erewa said in a statement.

The development comes shortly after an update by NiDCOM, saying the Egyptian border was “still not opened for our students.”

The Commission however, stated that the Nigeria Air Force (NAF) “is ready” with the NAF C 130 having landed at Aswan Airport, “and they say ‘We will not leave without our students’.”

Recall that due to the closure of Sudanese airspace, the Federal Government had made arrangement for buses to convey Nigerians to Egypt from where they were to catch flights back home.