The Federal Government on Sunday gave a breakdown of the $1.2m spent on the bus fare to evacuate stranded Nigerians from war-torn Sudan to Egypt borders for onward airlifting to Nigeria.
Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, the Permanent Secretary of the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry and Chair of the Situation Room on evacuation of Nigerians from Sudan, gave the explanation after a closed-door meeting of the ministry in Abuja.
He explained that $30,000 was paid per bus and that 40 buses were procured for the proper evacuation of Nigerian citizens stranded in Sudan.
He also explained the delays experienced by Nigerians at the Egyptian borders, delays on payment caused by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the requests for visa payments by the Egyptian government.
According to him, the owners of the buses demanded complete payment, noting that the sending money to Sudan cannot be done directly but through middlemen. He quickly added that the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) have been carried along in the payment process.
