Not less than 376 Nigerians evacuated from troubled Sudan arrived Abuja on Wednesday night, and many relayed tales of woe, ranging from sexual harassment to been robbed or forced to leave their belongings behind.
Others spoke about desperate measures they took to survive after their money ran out.
At the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, one of the ladies told journalists “We spent all the money we had. We were so hungry and thirsty. They were harassing us sexually. There was no food, no water to drink.
“It got to a point we picked things from shops and ran away. It was not funny. The experience of Nigerians while at the border between Sudan and Egypt was really terrible and excruciating.”
But the returnees got a measure of reprieve from the Federal Government, which gave each of them N100, 000 and a dignity kit, recharge credit for calls to the tune of N25,000 and 1.5 gigabytes of data.
According to the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya Farouq, at the Airport, Abuja on Thursday morning: “Today, we are very happy to receive them. They have gone through a very traumatic period but we give thanks to Almighty Allah that all of them are back safely. No life was lost which is the most important thing. All the efforts put in place were not in vain. I thank every member of the Committee that has put all efforts to ensure that these people are brought back safely and with dignity. We thank the transport companies for their support.
“There is N100,000 that would transport them back to their families which is supported by the Dangote Foundation by giving them the transportation fare as well as the dignity kits and also 25,000 recharge cards from MTN and 1.5 GB data courtesy of MTN. All efforts have been put in place and everyone has contributed to ensuring that at least these Nigerians have some comfort when they return home.”
She added that Air Peace aircraft conveyed 282 persons and the Nigeria Air Force evacuated 94.
“Today, we have received the first batch of the evacuees. The C130 aircraft of NAF brought about 94 of them while the Air Peace which I commend and appreciate the Chairman/CEO for the support and bringing back our nationals. They brought back about 282 Nigerians.
“They will be in the hall and they will go through a process of profiling and after which they will go through the immigration and they will be given their dignity packs for them to get back to their respective destinations. Some of them, their family members are here to receive them while others would be under our care until they get to their families”, she added