Category: Lead

• 1,350 arrive in Port Sudan
• 5,500 taken out of Khartoum
• House leadership meets ministries, agencies

The first batch of evacuees from Sudan is expected to arrive today after many hiccups, The Nation learnt last night.

An Air Peace aircraft landed in Egypt last night, according to the Chairperson of the Nigerian in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa.

She said: “The Embassy in Egypt has successfully moved all evacuees from the Sudanese side to the Egyptian side of the Arqeel border.

“Priority was given to female students in the orderly movement of 449 across the border.

“The students are now being prepared for their departure to Abuja through Aswan Airport.”

Azman Air has also received the Federal Government’s approval to airlift Nigerians.

It will deploy its 409-seater Airbus A340-600.

“Evacuation is expected to commence from Tuesday as we await final clearance from Egypt to depart,” the airline said.

The House of Representatives waded into the matter yesterday.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Zubair Dada; Mrs Dabiri-Erewa; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs Social Development, Nasir Gwarzo and other officials met with the House leadership.

Gwarzo said about 5,500 Nigerians have so far been evacuated from Khartoum, the Sudanese capital.

According to him, there were challenges with moving funds to Sudan, adding that the initial hitches have been addressed.

He said about five airlines, including a Sudanese carrier, would be involved in the airlifting.

Another option, he said, is to travel by naval vessels within a seven-day duration.

Gbajabiamila faulted the country’s response plans to such emergencies.

He said: “The House is aware of ongoing difficulties with the evacuation efforts and the Federal Government’s response to the developments in the Republic of Sudan. 

“We are also mindful that some of these difficulties flow from interagency disagreements arising from overlapping mandates and the absence of established operational guidelines for such circumstances. 

“While our priority is to ensure the welfare and well-being of our fellow citizens caught in this war, we must further revisit the statutory and other frameworks that have left us seemingly unprepared to respond promptly and effectively.

“The conflict in the Republic of Sudan reminds us once more of the fragility of nations. 

“In pursuing our political objectives, we must never lose sight of the fundamental truth that in war, everybody loses; in peace, everybody can win.

“All our personal, partisan and sectional interests must always succumb to the overarching and overriding interest of ensuring the unity and stability of Nigeria. 

“If we fail in this regard, nothing else will matter, and none of us will be absolved in the judgment of history.”

The Egyptian authorities have pegged the number of people to cross the border to the available plane capacity.

The second batch of evacuees has also arrived at Port Sudan after passing the night on the road.

The drivers of the 22 buses conveying them stopped at Atbara, halfway to Port Sudan on Monday, demanding the balance of their payment.

Atbara, one of the states in Sudan, is about 500 kilometres from Port Sudan.

The Sudanese army chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo have agreed in principle on a seven-day truce from tomorrow, a statement released by South Sudan’s foreign ministry said yesterday.

According to the statement, the president of South Sudan, Salva Kiir, stressed the importance of a longer ceasefire and of naming representatives to peace talks.

Both sides agreed to name representatives to the talks, the statement added.

South Sudan was designated as one of the countries to host the talks, and offered to mediate in the conflict in Sudan, according to Reuters.

The war is taking its toll on healthcare. There are no functioning hospitals left in Khartoum after weeks of fighting, Sudan’s Doctor’s Union said yesterday.

All the capital’s hospitals are out of service, the union said, hours after it urged for civilians to be evacuated from the “senseless war”.

More than 700 U.S. citizens arrived at Port Sudan via convoys organised by the government, the State Department said.

The US had faced criticism for not providing citizens with a way out of Sudan, but it organised three separate convoys at the weekend, shuttling hundreds of people to the relative safety of Port Sudan, about 840 kilometres northeast of the capital Khartoum.

The Senate yesterday mandated its Committee on Interior to urgently investigate the reasons for the delay in the issuance and renewal of international passports by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).

The committee was also asked to probe the contract for the printing of passport booklets.  It has 14 days to turn in its report.

The resolution followed the adoption of a motion on the “Delay in issuance, renewal of Nigeria’s international passport” sponsored by Senator Uche Ekwunife (Anambra Central).  

Ekwunife, in her lead debate, said the delay in the issuance and renewal of passports by NIS was causing untold hardship for Nigerians.

She described a passport as an official identity document, issued to Nigerians for the purpose of travelling out or coming into the country.

The Senator lamented that many Nigerians, especially students, find it extremely difficult to get passports in spite of the six-week timeline set by the Federal Government a year ago.

Passport issuance procedure got more complicated and became worse after the Ministry of Interior started it reform of the process.

According to Ekwunife, currently, new applicants and those seeking the renewal of their expired passports spend between three and six months waiting for a response from NIS and Nigerian embassies.

She explained that it takes five to eight weeks for an applicant to be invited for biometric capturing by NIS   and another four months for a passport to be issued.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker added that the situation was worse at the Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt offices of the service.  

“International students are also finding it very difficult to renew their passports to enable them to travel back to reunite with their families,” Ekwunife lamented.

Senator Gershom Bassey (Cross River South), who seconded the motion, said the delay in the issuance of passports to applicants was not in the interest of Nigerians.

Also, Senator Biodun Olujumi (Ekiti North), who recalled that in the past, passports were issued within days, said it was embarrassing that applicants needed to wait for six to eight months for the document.

Senator Muhammad Bulkachuwa (Bauchi North) told his colleagues that it took NIS five weeks to issue him a passport after biometric capturing. 

NIS officials explain delay 

Treasury Single Account (TSA) and foreign exchange have been listed as some of the causes of delay in in passport issuance.  

Others include a low number of issuing centres, imported materials, interests and “fire approach” by applicants.

TSA is a policy that makes it mandatory for most Ministries, Departments and Agencies to remit their earnings directly to the Federation Account.

According to the official, most of the materials used for passport production are sourced from foreign institutions and security services. 

A NIS source, who spoke on condition of anonymity said: “What we do here is to assemble the document. It is like the manufacturing or production of a car. 

“We have licensed institutions that we give contracts to produce and but we have lost the power to pay them due to TSA,    It is now the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN)  that uses the instrumentality of TSA to effect payments. We apply and they pay.

“The main problem remains that it involves foreign exchange which we have no control over. The CBN determines the disbursement of foreign exchange. So,  if the Immigration Service applies,  the supplier would have to wait until they get their money before producing. “  

It was also learnt that the seven passport issuing centres in the country are not enough to serve a population of over 200 million.

The issuing centres are three in Lagos State; two in    Abuja and one each in Kano and Rivers states.  

Another NIS official attributed the delay to what he called the  “Nigerian factor.”.

According to him, many applicants with valid passports always wait until the last days before seeking renewal.

He added that those seeking fresh passports fail to realise that the information provided by them must be verified before issuance.

His words: “People don’t apply for passports early.  It is only when they have a notification of travelling that they apply. And once you give them an appointment for capturing data, they always expect that in two or three days their passports would be ready. That is not   possible because some of the information they  provide have to be checked.”

Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate Peter Obi yesterday admitted that he phoned the eminent cleric, Bishop David Oyedepo.

But, the former Anambra State governor said he never described the February 25 presidential election as a religious war.

Also, Obi, who spoke on Arise Television Morning Show, relieved his experience at the Heathrow Airport in London, clarifying that he was never detained.

Obi has been at the centre of controversy, following the phone call and alleged detention at the United Kingdom airport.

The LP candidate had described the leaked audio conversation between him and Founder of Winners Chapel as “doctored”, adding that at no time did he “ever say, think, or even imply that 2023 election is, or was a religious war”.

Also, his spokesman, Diran Onifade, had explained that Obi was questioned for “a long time” and it took the intervention of Nigerians for him to be released.

Twenty five days after making the phone call, Obi admitted that he called the cleric to solicit for votes.

He said: “Call it whatever you want to call it. Whatever anyone wants to make of it. I am not a religious bigot. Do you think I can just pick a phone and say ‘religious war’? No, I was even begging the bishop to help me ask his people to vote, which was what I was doing for six months – begging.”

Obi added: “I wasn’t saying ‘catch him’, ‘kill him’, ‘force it’. I was even begging. That shows that I continued to look for votes by begging. There were so many things we tried to do but they were not okay.

“Let me tell you; those who have been trying to manipulate Nigerians have been doing it. But it is coming to an end. The people they have been manipulating are dying of hunger.

“They will soon know who is the religious or tribal bigot. I am not one. I have just given you an example of how I built mosques. Till today, no non-Muslim governor has sent more people to Mecca than me.

“I can never say it (election) is a religious war. Because it is not. There was a conversation. But I never said it was a religious war. What for? I am surrounded by people.

“If there was ever an instance where the presidential candidate and his deputy work as brothers, it is me and Datti. And I know and we never stop talking about it.

“For the first time in the history of Nigeria, we have a presidential candidate, running mate and party chairman who were born after Nigeria’s independence.

“We must save this country and he (Datti) knows my commitment to it. I can’t do all these with the background of religious war.”

‘I was not detained in UK’ 

Reliving his London airport experience, Obi said he was never arrested or detained by officials of the British Government.

He explained that British officials at Heathrow International Airport were carrying out a routine immigration check because his identity was alleged to have been compromised.

The LP candidate, who said he was stopped for a routine immigration check, contradicted his party’s claim that he was questioned for a long time.

He said: “I was never arrested, I was never detained. And I did not commit any offence. I was stopped for a routine immigration check because there appeared to be a duplication of my identity and all this lasted for a maximum of 20 minutes.

He added: “I lived in the UK from 1993 until 2005. From then till now is a period of 30 years. I have never been questioned, arrested or detained in any country in the world. I have never for any reason found myself being questioned for any offence.

“It was a routine immigration check and I was actually given all the due respect by the border personality that interviewed me, who told me ‘your identity has been duplicated, be careful’.”

Obi said despite once having a permanent residency in the UK, he chose to return to Nigeria, adding: “I was born a Nigerian. I will want to live and die a Nigerian”.

He stressed: “I have not committed any offence, so it was a routine immigration check, and it lasted for less than 20 minutes, and I was actually given all the due respect by the border personality, who told me that my identity has been duplicated.

“And I have a written document from the British government clarifying that I was never detained and that it was a few minutes’ routine check.”