Stranded Nigerian Students in Sudan Allegedly Extorted for Evacuation Funds

According to SaharaReporters, two Nigerian students who were stranded in Sudan due to the ongoing war in the Northeast African country have claimed that they were extorted during the evacuation process.

On April 29, the Nigerian government provided an additional six buses to the International University of Africa (IUA) in Sudan, where the Nigerian students studying in Khartoum were asked to assemble for evacuation. However, some of the buses were reportedly hijacked by non-documented Nigerians residing in Sudan who were also seeking evacuation.

The two affected Nigerian sisters alleged that some embassy staff in Khartoum demanded that they pay $150 ($75 each) for their evacuation, which they had to request from their families in Nigeria. The staff then requested an additional $100 ($50 each) for both of them to facilitate their evacuation. The sisters, who are studying medicine and dentistry, said that the embassy staff collected $125 from each of them. As of 6 pm (5 pm Nigerian time) on Sunday, they were still in Khartoum, but the buses that would take them were reportedly on the ground.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffery Onyeama, had earlier disclosed that the Nigerian government would spend $1.2 million to hire 40 buses to evacuate Nigerians trapped in Sudan amid the 72-hour ceasefire agreement between the warring factions in Sudan.