The Federal Government says 160 women in Sudan, claiming to be Nigerians, are without passports to fly back to the country.
The Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, Mustapha Ahmed disclosed this, on Sunday, while briefing newsmen on the evacuation of Nigerians from the war-torn country.
According to him, although the women claimed to be Nigerians, they do not possess Nigerian passports to verify their claims. He said the agency is being careful not to evacuate persons, who are not Nigerians. It will be recalled that before the commencement of the evacuation exercise, the Nigerian Diaspora Commission had said there were about three million Nigerians in Sudan and a total of 5,000 students.
However, the NEMA boss said apart from the 2,518 Nigerians that have so far been evacuated and 15 flights operated so far, the citizenship of many of those claiming to be Nigerians cannot be verified.
He said some of them claimed their great-grandparents up to the fifth generation were Nigerians while they were born in Sudan but that remains unverified.
He disclosed how some desperate Sudanese tried to board the vehicles that were meant to move Nigerians from Sudan to Egypt border.
Asked how much was expended to evacuate Nigerians from Sudan, Ahmed did not give the exact amount but he disclosed that Nigeria paid a total of $22,662 as exit fees at the point of moving the evacuees from Sudan and $62,950 for entry visa into Egypt.