Otamere Gladness 
ABUJA, Nigeria – At least 3,108 Nigerians have been evacuated from war-torn Sudan since conflict erupted in April 2023, making it one of the country’s largest emergency repatriation operations in recent years.
Data from the Federal Government, the International Organization for Migration and the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission on Sunday show that 2,518 Nigerians were evacuated through 15 special flights between April and May 2023.
The operation initially involved emergency government-led evacuations before transitioning into a humanitarian return programme coordinated by the IOM.
Four evacuation flights departed from Aswan, Egypt, while 11 others took off from Port Sudan after thousands of stranded Nigerians travelled through conflict zones to designated evacuation centres.
The final batch arrived in Abuja on May 13, 2023.
At the height of the operation, former Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, disclosed that the Federal Government spent more than $1.2 million on the evacuation effort.
The expenditure covered the procurement of 40 buses used to transport evacuees to the Egyptian border and related logistics costs.
NiDCOM Chairman, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, confirmed that no Nigerian casualty was recorded during the operation.
Since then, the IOM has evacuated an additional 590 Nigerians under its Voluntary Humanitarian Return programme, including 425 people in 2025 and another 165 in 2026.
Most returnees were students, elderly citizens and individuals displaced by the collapse of economic activities in Sudan.
According to IOM Senior Communications Assistant, Elijah Elaigwu, the number of Nigerians still trapped in Sudan remains uncertain.
“There is no precise or verified figure for the number of Nigerians still in Sudan who may have declined assistance or remain unreached,” he said.
The conflict, which began in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, has displaced millions and triggered one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises.
About the Author
Oluwafunbi Bello 
Oluwatobi Adu 
Edino Chubiyo Cornelius 