Nigerian Students Ordered Back To Sudan By Egyptian Authorities

More than 500 Nigerian students have been sent back to war-torn Sudan by the Egyptian authorities over the failure of two of them to provide either a passport or an Emergency Travel Certificate.

The development was made known via a voice note of a Nigerian official obtained by Punch on Friday morning.

Per the voice note, students without passports or ETC had been instructed to stay back; the order was given after two students without any documents became impatient and joined their colleagues.

According to the official, the above angered the Egyptian authorities and they subsequently ordered that all the students be taken back to Sudan to get the needed permits.

“Our children have spoiled the efforts that the Federal Government is putting in place to airlift them.

“All the students that have passports were allowed to move to the Egypt airport and those that do not have were asked to wait behind and an ETC will be issued to them as a formal document for them to travel.

“Out of impatience, two students without passports or ETC sneaked in.

“Now, the two students were discovered at the Aswan airport and the Egyptian authorities are angry.

“Now, all the stranded Nigerians have to go back to Sudan. They conveyed over 500 Nigerians and everyone will go back to Sudan.

“They will have to get an exit permit and then get another permit back to Egypt. This will cause a delay of almost 10 hours”, the voice note stated.

Speaking further, the official said that the whereabouts of a little child were unknown as he got lost in the confusion.

“Also, in the midst of the confusion, a child sneaked into Egypt. We cannot find him. Legal actions would be taken against the two students.”

Students at Port Sudan have also been warned to behave in a coordinated manner to avoid being returned back to Khartoum.