.. women, children on priority

Propelled by his pursuit of peace and unity among Nigerians, the Chairman Air Peace, Mr. Allen Onyema, has said the airline would begin airlift of Nigerians who are stranded in Sudan from Friday (tomorrow).
Onyema made this disclosure at ‘The Morning Show’ on Arise News yesterday, saying the airlift would be done through Egypt.
According to him, the airline was in talks with the Nigerian envoy to Egypt and that he would send three aircraft to the North African country to ferry the trapped citizens back to Nigeria on Friday morning.
He explained that he was moved by the desire to promote unity in the country, irrespective of the religious and cultural differences, stating that the service would be rendered free of any charge.
“I did not collect money from government and government did not promise to pay me, since it is a selfless job that is free of any charge.
“For me it’s a privilege to serve my country in my capacity without asking for payment.
“We are a country with diverse culture and religion, but we must see ourselves as one in the face of our diversity, and only selfless service can help achieve this to a great extent.
So whatever I can do to promote unity among ourselves, I will gladly do it,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, has said that women and children will be given priority in the rescue mission.
Onyeama disclosed this to journalists after the weekly federal executive council meeting held yesterday in Abuja.
“With regard to the evacuation of Nigerians in the Sudan, you’ll recall that the main challenge we had was securing some permission.
“First of all authorisation of the Sudanese government and, and then, you know, some security support for the convoy because it’s been decided that we will transport or convey the Nigerians to the Egyptian border, Aswan.
“So that’s what we decided. We are liaising with our embassy in Egypt as well. So we’ve been able to overcome a number of challenges and have started the process which we’re very happy about.
“We secured significant number of luxurious buses because the distances are quite considerable.
“We started the process and it will take, you know, maybe a couple of days to evacuate everybody.
“As regard the gender question, I think that’s obviously something we will have to look into in a bit more detail, but I think ordinarily, it will be appropriate that women and children should be given priority I think that goes without saying,” he said.
Onyeama also said the federal government was charged $1.2 million for the evacuation of Nigerian nationals out of the war-torn country to Egypt, citing insecurity in Sudan for the high cost of exercise.
“$1.2 million is what we’re being charged for all the 40 buses.
“We have huge transporter luxury buses made available to us to transport to the Egyptian border.
“Of course you know, because of the risks involved and so many other things, a lot of people are going to also take advantage; you’re going to hike up the price.
“We saw that the French convoy was attacked and so forth. It was difficult procuring these buses.
“But we had to do it because you know, Nigerian lives matter for us,” he said.