The federal government has claimed that 160 women in war-torn Sudan who identify as Nigerians lack the necessary travel documents to return home.
NEMA’s director general, Mustapha Ahmed, stated during a press conference on Sunday that the organization was taking care not to evacuate non-Nigerians.
Ahmed claimed that the women lacked Nigerian passports to support their claims of citizenship.
The director-general said that some people claimed they were born in Sudan but that their fifth-generation great-grandparents were Nigerian.
According to him, the organization was exercising extra vigilance as a result of some desperate Sudanese trying to board the vans intended to transport Nigerians from their nation to the Egyptian border.
Although Ahmed remained silent on the total amount expended on the evacuation process, he said Nigeria paid a total of 22,662 dollars as exit fees at the point of moving the evacuees from Sudan and $62,950 for entry visas into Egypt.
He noted that windows of evacuation were still open to any Nigerian with verified documents who was interested in returning to the country.
