War in Sudan: No Nigerian dead so far – Federal Govt

 

.Hires 40 buses at $1.2m to evacuate Nigerians to Egypt

.Approves N6bn for Agric Ministry’s project

.Mulls review of human right policies

 

The Federal Government has assured that no Nigerian died in the ongoing civil war in Sudan.

It said many Nigerians had already been evacuated by sea by the Saudi Arabian government.

 

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama and his Minister of State, Zubairu Dada, stated these to journalists after the week’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.

 

Speaking on the developments around the evacuation process, Dada said the Federal Government had successfully secured permission and authorisation from the Sudanese government to evacuate Nigerians from the country.

 

“The evacuation is being done in batches to ensure the safety of all Nigerians, but the good news is that no Nigerian life has been lost so far. I think it’s important to stress that all Nigerians are very safe and we’re very confident and hopeful that we shall not lose any Nigerian life Insha Allah in this exercise. All is well and we’re good to go,” he assured.

 

On if all Nigerians will be evacuated before the 72-hour window, Dada said: “We have no problem about the 72-hour window. Because we’ve talked to all the authorities concerned and we’re on the same page, but talking about the window, we are making every effort to ensure that we make use of this window to evaluate as many Nigerians as we possibly can.”

 

Dada also announced some Nigerians have already been evacuated by ship by the government of Saudi Arabia.

 

“Let me also add that some Nigerians have actually been evacuated by ship, I guess from Port Sudan, by the government of Saudi Arabia. Don’t forget, this is a joint effort. We have friendly nations that are ready to assist, you know, so that we’re having to record that the Saudi authorities have been able to, pick up some Nigerians, they’re transporting them by ship, I guess to Saudi Arabia, to Jeddah in particular. From where, of course, again, we’ll link up and find a way of bringing them back from Jeddah those that succeed in going to Jeddah,” he said.

 

After few days of uncertainty, the Federal Government has began the process of evacuating Nigerians stranded in Sudan, to neigbouring Egypt. To effect the transportation plans, the government said it has hired 40 Luxury buses at a cost of USD 1.2milion dollars to evacuate her citizens from the war thorn country

 

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama and his counterpart the Minister of State, Ambassador Zubairu Dada confirmed the development, after the matter was deliberated upon at the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday.

Onyeama who briefed State House Correspondents of the plans, confirmed that the 40 luxury buses were already on ground in Sudan to pick Nigerian citizens in the country to Egypt.

He said once they are safely moved to Egypt, other arrangements would be effected to airlift them back to Nigeria.

Onyeama also revealed that the evacuation efforts is being coordinated by the Nigerian embassy in Sudan as well as authorities of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FERMA) whose Director General has been on ground in Egypt to receive the evacuees.

According to the Ministers, the buses conveying our citizens were hired at a cost of $1.2million dollars, citing the risks associated with moving the people.

 

 

They noted that the hired buses also included the cost of providing security while conveying the victims to the Egyptian territory.

 

 

Both Ministers also noted that women and children will be given priority, before diplomats who are equally involved in the evacuation logistics.

 

 

They noted that the Nigerian government was leveraging on the 72 hours cease fire window given by the Sudanese government to evacuate as many Nigerians as possible.

 

 

Amb Dada noted that the Saudi Arabia government had already evacuated some Nigerians through the Sea, a development he noted was highly appreciated by the Federal Government.

 

 

Onyeama said: “Just to provide an update on what is happening with regards to the evacuation of Nigerians in Sudan.  You recall that the main challenge we had was first of all securing the authorization of the Sudanese government and then security support for the convoy.

 

 

“This is because it has been decided that we will transport or convey Nigerian to the Egyptian border Aswan. We are liaising with our embassy in Egypt as well so we have been able to overcome these challenges and we have started the process which we are very happy about.

 

 

“$1.2 million is what we’re being charged for all the 40 buses.  We have huge transport luxury buses made available to us to transport our citizens to the Egyptian border. Of course, you know, because of the risks involved and so many other things, a lot of people are going to also take advantage; you’re going to hike up the price. We saw that the French convoy was attacked and so forth. It was difficult procuring these buses. But we had to do it because you know Nigerian lives matter to us.”

 

 

As a follow up, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, noted that so far no Nigerian life has been lost in Sudan since the conflict broke out on April 15th from a bitter power struggle between the leaders of Sudan’s regular army and a rival paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

 

 

He said: “The evacuation is being done in batches to ensure the safety of all Nigerians. But the good news is that no Nigerian life has been lost so far. I think it’s important to stress that all Nigerians are very safe. And we’re very confident and hopeful that we shall not lose any Nigerian life Insha Allah shall in this exercise. All is well and we’re good to go.”

 

 

“We have also arranged for security support and transportation for the Nigerians to the Egyptian border. Government is making every effort to evacuate as many Nigerians as possible during the 72-hour window provided by the Sudanese government”.

 

 

Asked whether the 72 hour window will be enough to evacuate all Nigerians from the war thorn country, Sudan, Dada said: “We have no problem about the 72-hour window. Because we’ve talked to all the authorities concerned and we’re on the same page. But talking about the window, we are making every effort to ensure that we make use of this window to evaluate as many Nigerians as we possibly can.”

 

 

“Some Nigerians have already been evacuated by ship by the government of Saudi Arabia.

 

 

“Let me also add that some Nigerians have actually been evacuated by ship, I guess from Port Sudan, by the government of Saudi Arabia. Don’t forget, this is a joint effort. We have friendly nations that are ready to assist, you know, so that we’re having to record that the Saudi authorities have been able to pick up some Nigerians, they’re transporting them by ship, I guess to Saudi Arabia, to Jeddah in particular. From where, of course, again, we’ll link up and find a way of bringing them back from Jeddah those that succeed in going to Jeddah,” he said.

 

 

Recall that iver 400 people are believed to have died and nearly 3,500 have been injured in the confrontation which has forced hundreds of citizens to flee the capital Khartoum.

 

 

The RSF paramilitary organization, directed by General Mohamed Dagalo, and the Sudanese Armed Forces, under the command of General Abdel al-Burhan, were previously allies.

Also, After 30 years of a make shift arrangements of accommodation, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has secured the approval of the Federal Executive Council to build a befitting headquarters in Abuja.

 

At the FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, on Wednesday, the memo for cost consideration of the project came up for deliberations, following which it was agreed that an initial N6billion be released to commence the project in the Central Business District of Abuja

 

 

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mahmood Abubakar gave the disclosure while briefing State House Correspondents.

 

He said the Federal Capital Territory Authority (FCTA) was gracious enough to allocate a plot of land measuring 1.84 hectares where the 10 storey building would stand.

 

According to Abubakar, the Ministry has been using a temporary facility provided by the FCT administration, even though it had acquired a building in Abuja which it intends to sell off and the proceed injected into the new project.

 

He said plans to build a permenent structure to house staff of the Ministry has been lingering for over 30 years.

 

Reacting to the increasing cost of rice in the market despite boasts by government that the country was now self sufficient in the production, Abubakar noted that the Covid-19 pandemic, challenges associated with fertiliser production and supplies as well as the recent cash crunch occassioned by the Central Bank of Nigeria contributed to the price differences.

 

 

He however admitted that the situation was getting better as the prices was coming down, just as the President, Muhammadu Buhari had given a directive that the various rice mill projects across the country be completed soon.

.Mulls Review of Human Right Policies as Administration Winds Down

Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami on Wednesday, disclosed that the Federal Government has resolved to scale up its human rights rating in the international community, a development that may see to the review of human rights policies in Nigeria.

 

 

He said its decision to upscale was informed by commendations received from stakeholders on how it has managed human right cases, especially the APO Six killings where N135million was slammed on the Federal Government and has been offsetted.

 

 

He said, “It is intended and targeted at consolidating and upscaling the Nigerian observance of the Human Rights posture in view of what has happened in terms of our successes and achievements of Nigeria, as it relates to the human right.

 

 

“As you will recall very well, the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has established a record of being the first and only administration in history of Nigeria that has tolerated, accommodated and enforced decision of the Human Rights Commission. And in this respect, talking of the Apo six, taking into consideration, the commission judge the government as being in breach of the human rights of certain individuals popularly referred to as Apo six, which unfortunate incidents predates the government of President Muhammadu Buhari.”

 

 

Recall that the Human Rights Commission, adjudged the government liable to pay about N135 million to the family of the victims of the alleged infractions. The government of President Muhammadu Buhari took steps to ensure payment of the N135 million to the Apo Six in compliance with the recommendations of the National Human Rights Commission, thereby giving teeth to the Human Rights Commission in terms of compliance with the recommendation.

 

 

The Minister said “the committee for the protection of journalists, which is an international committee had equally adjudged Nigeria, as the only African country last year that has been in full compliance in terms of the protection of the rights of the journalists, taking into consideration that not a single incidence of death of a journalist has been recorded in Nigeria arising from infractions, relating thereto.

 

 

“Now with those local and international successes in mind, the need has now arisen for Nigeria to indeed consolidate on the gains and upscale its provision from a local observance of the protection of the human right to international standard by way of ensuring compliance with the best practices. It was in consideration of that background that a national action plan for the promotion and protection of human rights in Nigeria, known as action plan 2022 to 2026 was indeed designed, formulated by the stakeholders comprising of ministries, departments and agencies.

 

 

“So, the essence of the presentation of the council memo today is to deliberate on the action plan, review it and seek approval for its conservation or presentation before the International Human Rights committee for the purpose of establishing the following: that Nigeria is no longer operating at a local scale in terms of the observance and promotion of human rights, but indeed upscaling its international observance to international best practices as far as the human rights, promotion and protection of human rights is concerned”.