Air Peace offer to airlift stranded Nigerians out of Sudan free of charge once safe passage has been agreed

NIGERIAN commercial airline Air Peace has expressed its willingness to help evacuate the country's citizens stranded in Sudan free of charge following the recent outbreak of war between the government and paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Over the last week, Sudan’s army and the RSF have been involved in a brutal  war with more than 400 people killed so far. With heavy fighting in the capital Khartoum, foreign expatriates are preparing to flee, with the Sudanese army saying it was coordinating efforts to evacuate diplomats from the US, Britain, China and France out of the country on military aeroplanes.

With Sudan’s main international airport closed, foreign countries have ordered their citizens to simply shelter in a safe place until they can figure out evacuation plans. Aware of how dangerous the situation is now becoming, Hon Dabiri-Erewa, the chair of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (Nidcom), is making arrangements to evacuate Nigerians from Sudan.

In the past, Air Peace has been involved in the evacuation of stranded Nigerians from South Africa and had been expected to do likewise here. Allen Onyema, Air Peace's chairman and chief executive, said the airline is ready to evacuate the stranded Nigerians in Sudan for free if the federal government can get the airline to a safe and secure airport in any of the neighbouring countries.

He noted that Nigerian students and others stranded in the war-racked nation urgently need help and Air Peace is ready to offer this. Mr Onyema said he is compelled to help because Nigeria cannot afford to lose her citizens in Sudan, adding that an airlift would be his own commitment to making sure that the stranded Nigerians in the war-torn country are safe.

Mr Onyema said: “Again, Air Peace is willing to evacuate Nigerians stranded in Sudan free of charge if the government can get them to a safe and secure airport in any of the neighbouring countries bordering Sudan. Everything must not be left to the government and the government alone.

 “We are very ready to do it immediately. No time wasting. Any action that would promote national pride, national cohesion, peace and unity, we are for it. Again, we have no apologies for believing in our nation and loving the nation despite certain national challenges.

"If they are moved to Kenya or Uganda or any other country, we will move in to get them out. Some parents have started calling on us to help. We are ready to do this again and again.”

In 2019, Air Peace deployed flights to evacuate Nigerians in South Africa when the xenophobic attack against Africans living in that country threatened the lives of Nigerians. At the moment, the federal government is making preparations to evacuate about 5,500 stranded Nigerians out of Sudan through the Egyptian city of Luxor.

Dr Onimode Bandele, the director of special duties of the National Emergency Management Agency, said the federal government was meeting with government officials in Egypt on how to move Nigerians out of Sudan. He added that Nigeria, for security reasons, will get authorisation from the Sudanese government before the evacuation.