TUES, MAY. 02 2023-theGBJournal| The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabimaila said today, that he has requested the Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs to invite the Minister of Foreign Affairs and officials from the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to appear before the House to give account of the status of evacuation efforts (from the Republic of Sudan).
The Speaker, in the House Chamber, was addressing the House on the disturbing development in the war-torn Sudan which descended into carnage of violent conflict and consequently entrapping many Nigerian resident in that country.
”The House is aware of ongoing difficulties with evacuation efforts and 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,” the Speaker said in his statement.
He said, ”while the country’s 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.”
There have been numerous reports on the difficulties Nigerians in Sudan are facing in effort to leave the country. The measures so far announced by the federal government agencies responsible to oversee their evacuation have appeared haphazard.
No clear-cut evacuation process have so far been announced except the noise and reactions by officials on why stranded Nigerians have not been completely evacuated from the country even when many less endowed countries have successfully evacuated their citizens.
Hundreds of innocent lives have been lost in the Sudan war which has now entered its second week.
There are reports that the Capital, Khartoum has fallen to one of the military factions tussling for the control of the country-the Rapid Support Force, and the country’s Central Bank is said to have been ransacked.
According to Speaker Gbajabimaila, ”The conflict in 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.”
He advised that all 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 judgement of history,” he noted.
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